Twisted Prophecy
by MLfan64
Summary: (Mystery Dungeon) A hundred years ago, the world just about ended. A storm wracked the earth, killing 99% of all life on the planet. A prophecy foretells of an event that may finish the deed. And it foretells 2 heroes who can stop it. Today, dozens of imposters roam the world, claiming to be the heroes of prophecy. The true heroes have a lot to prove before they can save the world.
1. Echoes of the Past

Echoes of the past

Let me tell you the story of the day the sky spoke.

It was a hundred years ago, or somewhere close to that. On that day, a voice echoed across the world. It radiated through the sky and through the sea. Through the hottest volcanoes and the coldest mountains. It interrupted thousands of battles, from dozens of small training matches to a massive raid on a villain's hideout. It talked to the lowliest of Sunkern, and it spoke to Arceus itself. First, the voice spoke a single word.

* * *

 _Listen._

* * *

The world grew quiet. From mountaintop to mountaintop, the world grew still.

The voice was unknowable. It came from nowhere and everywhere all at once. After the fact, nobody could agree on what it sounded like. The age, species, and even gender were difficult to discern. Some thought it was many voices, some only heard one. But any pokemon that heard it felt the unshakable urge to do as it said. All at once, the world listened.

It spoke again.

* * *

 _Deep within this cursed earth,_

 _A cataclysm resides_

 _One day soon, or maybe late,_

 _It will deftly rise._

* * *

 _Brimstone, fire. The end of the world,_

 _The cataclysm births._

 _To you, there is one single hope,_

 _To defeat this curse._

* * *

 _I will call a human here,_

 _Body and mind unwound._

 _To their side, a soul untouched._

 _Their friendship keeps them bound._

* * *

 _In the end a god will face,_

 _2 souls, pure and fair._

 _Who will win? I know this not._

 _And-…_

* * *

And the prophecy cut off without finishing the final line.

When the prophecy ended, there was absolute silence. For a minute, the world grew still. Nobody spoke a word. Nobody moved at all. Not because they couldn't, but because they didn't. Not just the various pokemon were silent, but the world itself. The wind stopped blowing. The Sea's surface was motionless. Raindrops stopped still in midair. The world was absolutely silent. Waiting. Waiting for the final rhyme. Waiting for someone to say it was all a joke. Waiting for another verse. Waiting for _something_. But nothing came.

When the minute passed, the world started again, bit by bit. First, in a seaside town, a raindrop fell on a Baynet's head, and they screamed, kickstarting those around him to do the same. An instant later, in the depths of the ocean, the currents began again, and all the pokemon of the sea swam frantically, asking one another what it meant. Over the next few moments, movement cascaded throughout the earth. Elders called for town meetings. Hundreds of people wrote the prophecy down. Thousands of people asked their legendaries what was going on. There were so many questions asked on that day. But there were no answers.

The prophecy shook the public on that day. Nothing like this had ever happened before. Most pokemon weren't panicked. Just confused.

They would be panicking if they knew what damage the prophecy would bring.

The first sign something was seriously wrong: fortune tellers. They all tried to channel the spirit of prophecy and ask about the rhyme. They asked, what was a human? What kind of pokemon would their partner be? What was this great calamity? When would it come? And what was that final line going to be? But they received nothing. Not an irrelevant prophecy, but nothing at all.

One particular Xatu was known for having an accurate prophecy daily at 8:30 sharp. Yet it, along with every other pokemon, never had a prophecy again. Any prophecy-based business fell apart. Some prophets lied. They made false prophecies and told people they were still connected. But sooner or later they all came out as quacks. Soon after the crash of the prophecy market, other industries fell. Many companies used prophets to help them, and without them, they had no idea what to do. Within a month of the prophecy, the whole economy crashed.

Even more significant was what happened to the legendaries. Arceus held a meeting a day after the prophecy to try to find out who broadcasted the prophecy, or discern it's meaning if they couldn't do that much. However, the meeting ended poorly. Dialga blamed Darkrai. Darkrai blamed Yveltal. Yveltal blamed Hoopa. Hoopa blamed the 3 lake spirits, each of whom blamed one another. Everyone denied sending the prophecy and accused everyone else. Nobody was willing to consider it might have been none of them. Arceus tried in vain to call order. But in the end, the legendaries all stormed away in distrust. Many long-lasting friendships were severed.

Each legendary had a town they called home. To that town, they were a guardian. In exchange for their housing the legendary, it would become protected from any sort of danger. Natural disasters always conveniently went around the cities. The stories of bandits stupid enough to attack them scared any other bandits away.

In this case, like the legendaries themselves, any "Legendary town" became distant from other towns, protected and otherwise. When the legendaries returned, they ordered their towns shut off trade routes and close their borders to immigration. Some towns became distant in the literal sense. A few legendaries used their power to float their islands into the air or break them from the mainland and float them into the ocean. 49 towns and cities were isolated from the world.

And after all that… everything began to settle down. A year passed, and no evil came to destroy the earth. In this time, the world tried to recover. Following the economic crash, the companies not reliant on prophecy began to lift the economy up again. Brave pokemon attempted to reforge ties between those towns isolated from anyone else. Some friendships lost between the legendaries began to improve again. All in all, the world was improving.

And then, the storm came.

Nobody knows how or why it happened. But on the anniversary of the prophecy, at late in the afternoon, it began. One minute, it was a bright, sunny day out. And then, all at once a hundred things went wrong. Every volcano on earth erupted. An earthquake shook the entire earth. Thousands of tornadoes touched down across the land. It rained so fast that it began to flood within 60 seconds. Everything set on fire and it refused to go out through the rain. Jagged rocks erupted from the earth in random locations. Everyone knew this was what the prophecy spoke of. They never knew it would be this bad.

However, there was one hope. There were no heroes, but there were still the legendaries. Any town that had a guardian legendary was protected, even through a storm such as this one. But even for the strongest of legendaries, it took all the power they had to keep the storm at bay over their town or city. They could do nothing for the rest of the world.

As for the thousands of towns and cities without a guardian legendary… the pokemon living in them searched for help. They prayed. They tried to protect their town themselves. They hid in places they hoped were safe. They waited for the heroes. But nobody came. And nowhere was safe from the storm. With every passing minute, it all got worse. Any pokemon outside of those few safe zones was eviscerated. Erased without a trace that they existed at all. A city with 100,000 pokemon living in it: the next day, it was a wasteland. There was nothing anyone could do. Any pokemon caught in the storm couldn't survive.

Sure, some pokemon lasted longer than others. Those that were lucky or strong enough to survive the initial onslaught, they held out hope. Just a few minutes, and it would be over. They knew the hero would come. They could make it through this. Just a few more minutes and they would live.

The storm raged on for a week.

When the storm finally subsided, the world looked very different from the world before. Mountains were eroded away and new mountains rose while deserts formed where forests once stood. The world's population was concentrated in around 49 cities and towns across the now unfamiliar earth.

From the 49 cities, Pokemon were sent out to look for survivors. Of course, they found none. But they found something else entirely.

One group of explorers was startled to find a massive forest. How could so many trees survive the storm? But when they entered, everything seemed to twist around them. Staricases lead to more forest above and below them. The trees contracted to form narrow pathways through the rough. This wasn't a unique occurrence. Across the world, expolorers entered canyons and mountains to find the same outcomes there as well.

Thousands of pockets of unknown activity were left behind by the storm. Places where every time you entered, it would subtly change. Places where time seemed to flow differently. In them lay both danger and treasures the world had never seen. And weirdest of all they had… pokemon? Although the world was destroyed, these pokemon lived. Yet they seemed… broken. They fought any other pokemon on sight. They didn't speak the common language, in fact, they seemed to speak no language at all. Were they specters of darkness? Were they the souls lost in the storm? Nobody knew. The strange pokemon couldn't leave their dungeons, and they left no body when defeated. These strange rifts were later called mystery dungeons. This new world was a world of mystery dungeons.

A few days after the storm ended, the prophecy sounded again. And again, it cut off just before the ending. Most pokemon thought they knew what it meant. This storm wasn't even the cataclysm, just a light rainfall compared to the thunderstorm to come. The world barely survived this. How could they possibly survive the next storm?

Before any second storm could hit, however the world had to rebuild. It took time, but a new culture rose out of the old one. Nobody built new settlements in fear that another storm would grow. Further than that, the weather was far harsher than it was before the storm. It was difficult to say if a town could survive without a legendary's protection. So instead of making new towns, they expanded their old ones. Meloetta's tiny village grew to be a sprawling cityscape. Those legendaries like Rayquaza who already had a chosen city expanded to become a sprawling metropolis. It was a world of isolation… and also exploration. Pokemon wandered the new world to chart it, to find all of the other towns, to find mystery dungeons, and to reestablish trade. The new world stood as a monument that the pokemon world could always overcome adversity. The world could be destroyed, yet pokemon would live on. But deep within the survivors' minds, they all still wondered. When the prophecy came true, would they be ready?

* * *

The elder finished speaking. It was a hallowing note to end on. Sure, it had been 90 years or so since the storm or any other mention of the prophecy, but it was still harrowing every time Tris heard it.

"So? Ya satisfied yet?" asked Krow, an elder Monferno.

Tris nodded fiercely. "Of course! You tell the story so well!"

He rolled his eyes. "I was flattered the first 5 times you said that. But this is getting ridiculous…"

Tris was a young budew at that point. He was a bit different from the other kids. While they all played and had fun, Tris liked to hear stories of the past. Of great adventurures who found great treasures, of great cities across the globe and their sprawling landscapes, of the time before the storm. And of course, of the storm itself, like the story Krow was telling today.

Tris smiled. "What can I say? You tell the story the best! I mean, you were there, right?"

"Oh, hush. I'm sure some of the others tell it just as well as I do. It's not as if I remember it happening, I was 2 when the storm hit."

"You still remember it, though, right? Don't you? Don't you?"

Krow sighed. "Sure, bits and pieces."

"Can you tell me what you remember?"

"When you're older. Now, shoo. Go play with the other children."

Tris groaned. "Come on, can't you tell me one more?"

Krow rolled so his back faced Tris. "You need exercise if you're ever going to evolve. Now get out of here."

Tris slowly made his way out of the tent. Sometimes Krow was so unfair. Was it so much to want to learn? Krow sure seemed to think so. But Tris didn't care what he thought. He knew that the prophecy was still relevant. He didn't care that nothing had happened yet. He didn't care that there were so many fakes roaming around. The prophecy was still real. He wished that he could be one of the heroes. He sighed. But he was far too weak for that.

Tris lived in Meloetta city. Since every city had a guardian now, it was only convenient to call the cities by their guardians' names. It was a seaside city which, unsurprisingly, had a booming music market. Jazz musicians lined the streets. The cityscape was incomplete without a distant or not-so-distant trumpet heard across the sky. At a distance, the skyline was dominated by massive cinindrical glass buildings, reflecting the sun's bright light. Literally, the skyscrapers were built from pure glass. There was a short section of concrete or stone for a foundation and so the sun's glare wouldn't be everywhere, then glass spires all the way up. If you didn't know any better, you would think Atlantis rose from the ocean and settled right next to the sea.

Most of all, it was a place of artisans and craftsman. There was a booming theatre market, with plays new and old. It was the kind of place any pokemon would migrate to if they wanted to get a book published or a painting sold. In Meloetta city, the arts were a priority. And if you didn't like that, you had 48 other cities to choose to move to!

Living in Meloetta city, Tris grew up with a mentality that it was okay to follow your dreams. And that mentality struck him at that moment. What was his dream? He wanted to be a hero. And he couldn't do that unless he was stronger. And as he thought about it, something clicked in his mind. The elder was right. It made sense to play with the other children. In fact, he would play with the other kids until he was the strongest there was!

He ran off into the city as the ambient music of the city seemed to pick up, acting as a background music to his life.

* * *

5 years later

* * *

Tris ran through the town square with a smile on his face. As a Roselia, he clenched a notebook tightly in his flowery grasp. Two pokemon chased him from close behind, a Sableye and a Delphox. He glanced back and kept running. He passed by several other pokemon, who looked at the group of them strangely as they raced past. As the intersection forked in front of him, he swerved left. He'd been in this part of town long enough to know the right path lead to a dead end.

In an instant, a bright light engulfed his vision as a wall of flame erupted before him, completely obscuring the left path. He pivoted and scurried to the right, slightly singing the petals adorned in his hands.

"Cheaters!" he called behind him. The path narrowed into a dark alleyway. While the spires at the top of the city were built from glass, the bottoms were still a harsh concrete. Even though the sun was close to straight above, the sunlight didn't reach the bottom of the alley. Tris could see the sunlight, but he couldn't feel it.

"If you're allowed to use moves, you can't expect me to hold back!" He held his hand behind him as he ran and allowed a few seeds to drop from the palm of his flower.

As the two pokemon ran forward, Sableye noticed the seeds and was quick enough to dodge to the side. Delphox, however, didn't see them at all. As he stepped on one of the seeds, a puff of sleeping powder emitted from the earth. He breathed in just a whiff of it and was out like a rock.

Tris didn't see the either of them fall, just the fact that only one pair of footsteps followed him. His eyes were busy looking ahead of him. Just up ahead, the road reached an end. He scanned the apartments lining the end of the road for an open door, but he wasn't that lucky. He searched his head for ideas as he ran, getting closer and closer to the end of the road. Finally, he thought of something. It probably wouldn't work, but if it did, it was gonna look super cool.

Tris slowed his pace to allow Sableye to catch up, careful to not let her know it was intentional. He heard her footsteps grow louder and louder. When he reached the end of the alley, the two of them were a few feet away.

When Tris hit the back wall, he planted a foot into the concrete and launched himself upwards. He kicked off the wall and sailed over the Sableye's head.

The world seemed to go in slow motion for a moment. The Sableye reached up and lashed out with a fury swipes. However, Tris was prepared. As he leapt into the air, the shadows of the buildings above gave way to the sunlight just above them. Tris's vision was flooded with light as he leapt into the air. In a point just ahead of him, he saw a point of especially blinding light. The city's glass buildings concentrated the sunlight like a magnifying glass into a spot just before him. As he felt the light course through his body, he reached towards the spot where the sun was most magnified with a single hand.

He closed his eyes and channeled that area of harsh sunlight to instantly charge and fire a devastating solarbeam.

He launched it not at Sableye, but at an angle into the sky. He used it like a jet propulsion mechanism. The burst of momentum from a single hand made him spin wildly, narrowly missing the Sableye's fury swipes and sending him crashing to the ground just behind her. He quickly scrambled to his feet and began running down the alley.

The Sableye finally spoke up between gasps of air. "Dude… cut it out… already!"

Tris slowed down and looked back towards her. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong? You stole my notebook! That's not cool."

"I said you could have it back when you caught me. That was the deal, wasn't it, Kallie?"

Kallie scowled. "I didn't make a deal or anything! You just took it and told me to keep up!"

Tris scoffed. "I thought you wanted my training."

For the past few years, Tris had been getting stronger. He'd gone from being a bit of a shut-in to the best soccer player in the school, maybe even the high schooler in the city! People told him getting a scholarship for college was going to be a shoe-in.

The two pokemon chasing him, Kallie and Thomas, each approached him saying they wanted his help training for the PCL, or the Pokenn Champion's League. It was the most popular and respected sport in the world, a straight-up fight with no restrictions other than special items that nullified type weaknesses and resistances. There were plenty of leagues, but the pair of them wanted to enter the tag team division. They were each surprised when Tris agreed. However, his training methods were… unconventional.

Thomas, the Delphox, ran up to the scene at full speed. However, he slowed when he saw the other two weren't fighting anymore.

"Come on, you're giving up? You almost had him! I was still here for a pincer maneuver!" he said.

"We weren't even close," Kallie said. "Don't try to be coy about it."

Noting the bitterness in her voice, Delphox hesitated. "What happened back here exactly?"

"Oh, nothing. I was a few inches from touching Mr. Perfect here and he runs up a wall and fires a solarbeam out of what I can only describe as nowhere whatsoever. I had him cornered in a dead end and I couldn't so much as touch him."

Tris saw the two of them looking downtrodden and spoke up. "Come on, don't look so blue! That wall of fire was pretty sweet, Thomas. And that reaction time, Kallie! I jumped above you, and you were completely prepared to attack directly above you. And just the fact the two of you were able to keep up means you were super fast. Seriously, you guys did fine. Give it a month, and I know you'll be so much better."

"Or maybe a little bit of a heads-up, and we'd be better…" Kallie muttered.

"Hey!" Tris said. "You don't get preparation in a real battle. If a pickpocket grabbed that notebook, you would need the skill to get it back."

"Pretty sure most thieves can't do what you do," Thomas said. He was snickering under his breath.

Tris was happy Thomas was feeling better. But Kallie still seemed bitter. "So you're saying that you would fare better when faced with a sneak attack!?" she muttered.

"Of course," Tris said. "I'm just trying to help you guys be the same way."

Thomas held in another laugh. Kallie ignored him and raised an eyebrow at Tris. "So you would notice if someone stole from you? One hundred percent?"

"Of course."

"You would never, ever get stolen from. It's an impossibility."

"What are you trying to get at here?"

Thomas let out a guffaw that echoed through the narrow alleyway. Tris turned to him. He was still laughing out loud. "Okay, what's so funny?"

Between his fits of laugther, he managed to say, "Your hands."

He looked at his hands. They were empty. "What about them?"

Thomas just laughed harder. He turned to Kallie in confusion. She now had an evil grin on her face. In her hand, she twirled a notebook.

"Wha-…oh." The notebook. Sometime during the conversation, Kallie had taken it back. Was her "giving up" all a ruse? He wasn't sure. But it was clever, he had to give her that. Tris grinned. "You're never gonna get me on that one again, you know."

Kallie smirked. "So you would 100% notice is someone stole from-"

"Oh, shut it," Tris said. "You got me, fair and square. I admit it. Now can we move on?"

"Gladly," Kallie said, smiling far too wide.

Tris directed the three of them back to the alleyway.

"Now," Tris said, "I get that you "Won" in the end. But most thieves wouldn't stop if you told them to. I want to show you exactly what I was able to use to escape."

The two of them were at the edge of their seats, figuratively. Tris might have been annoying sometimes, and he'd just stolen from them without their permission, but he was still a powerful pokemon. They were each interested in what was going on.

"You see-"

A bright flash of light emitted from a point in space between Tris and the other pair. A powerful shockwave emitted from the center of it, blasting Tris backwards. He crashed against a nearby building and barely retained conciousness. Thomas resisted the hit, while Kallie was unaffected by the blast.

For just a moment, there was silence. When everyone's senses returned, a pure green shape lay at the center of the blast. Kallie hesitantly approached the figure while Thomas ran towards Tris.

And a few seconds after the first wave, a second wave hit. Thomas and Tris were each around 10 feet away from the blast and while Tris was mostly okay, Thomas was hit hard. He barely stayed on his feet. Kallie… she wasn't immune this time. Being so close to the point of origin when the impact went off nearly tore her apart. She tumbling 20 feet across the pavement. She coughed up a bitter black liquid and lay still.

Thomas got up on steady feet. He glanced between the two figures on the ground. On unsteady feet, He faced the figure. "I-If you want to hurt them, you're gonna have to go through me!" The two of them stood off at one another, an amorphous green shape and an orange magical fox.

Thomas heard a heard a cough come from Tris. Thomas glanced over and saw him rise. He was munching on a round, blue berry. "Rule number one," Tris said. "Always pack a few Oran berries." He tossed 2 Oran berries to Thomas. "Help your friend. Heal yourself, too. Then get out of here. I'll take this thing down."

"But-" Thomas said.

"JUST DO IT!" Tris snapped.

Without another word, Thomas ran down the alleyway towards his friend.

Tris took a deep breath and turned to face the green shape. It slowly began to take shape. Bits of red and white sprouted from the green. Two red horns sprouted on its head. Two red dots appeared in the section that would become its head. Its arms and legs elongated to proportions akin to some fighting types, like a Machop or Medicham. A white light grew from its midsection, covering it in a white sheen. The light shaped itself into a white dress, fully covering its arms and cascading down its body. A Kirlia emerged from the light as it faded away.

Tris dropped his arms in awe for a moment. The figure faced away from him, but it's beauty was apparent. Then, he remembered who this was. It hurt his students. Beauty wouldn't make him forget that.

"Face me, you coward!" he shouted.

The figure turned, startled. Its red eyes met his black ones. He blinked a few times. "Who…" she stammered. She fell to one knee. Tris took a step back, startled. "Where am I?" she said.

Annoyed at his own trepidation, Tris took a step forward. "Don't play games with me. You hurt my friends. Who are you?"

"W-what? I…" she trailed off again. "Who am I?" she said.

Tris saw her unthreatening form. Could she really have been the one who attacked him? "Why did you hurt my friends?"

She didn't say anything. She collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Tris released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

He considered running and telling the police. But he shook his head. He couldn't just leave her there. He leaned down and tried to pick her up, but she was far too heavy. He tried knocking on a few nearby houses, but nobody answered. He didn't want to go any farther than that and leave her all alone.

 _Why am I being so protective of someone who tried to kill me?_ He thought. He shook his head. When she arrived, she didn't seem to have malicious intent. And besides, he'd already made up his mind. He dragged her over to a wall and leaned her against it. After that, he supposed he didn't have much choice but to wait.

* * *

It was only a few minutes before the Kirlia stirred. Tris heard a light moan come from Kirlia. He turned over and reflexively put up his hands in a fighting position.

The Kirlia rubbed her eyes and came face to face with an angry Roselia. She sighed. "Not a dream, huh?"

"…What?"

She worked her way onto unsteady feet. "I'm sorry. My name's Aria. You know, the type of song? Like that. My point is, maybe the two of us can trade notes on what happened today."

He stared at her. "Could you start by explaining why you attacked me?"

She stared off into space. "I… I don't know. I don't remember much of anything…"

Tris got more and more confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, obviously I remember my name, right?"

"Yeah…?"

"That's…it."

"What?"

"That's all I remember. My name."

Tris's mind was spinning. "You're joking, right?"

Aria shrunk a bit. "I…well, I remember a little before I got here, specifically. I don't remember attacking you. And before that…I don't know. That's why I fainted earlier. When you asked me who I was, I realized I didn't have a clue."

Tris got up and began pacing. "I need to know all the facts. Let's pretend you aren't joking or lying, you truly forgot who you are. What, exactly, do you remember?"

Before Aria could continue, Tris' ears perked up. He heard a group of footsteps racing down the alleyway. He held up a hand towards Aria. She stopped talking.

As the footsteps grew closer, two officers came into view, an Arcanine and a Lucario dressed in police blue. The Arcanine spoke. "I spoke with your friends. They told me everything. Where's the intruder?"

Tris glanced towards Aria for just a moment. "I-it's weird, actually. Just as Thomas and Kallie left, the green blob disappeared into nothingness. Aria here heard the commotion and exited one of these buildings just after that. I've been talking with her about what just happened here. I've been standing guard to see if it reappears, but so far, nothing else has happened."

The Arcanine turned to Aria. "That's true?"

She nodded quickly. "Yeah. I heard a huge commotion and went outside to see what was going on."

Lucario nodded turned back to Tris. He took out a notepad. "Anything you saw in specific before it disappeared?"

"Well, of course, I was expecting another blast of energy after the other two left, but no more came…"

The questioning process was long, but Tris made it through without giving anything about Aria away. He explained everything from their chase through town up until what happened with the two blasts of energy. Aria was shocked at what she'd done, but she kept it in her head. The police thanked him and asked the two of them to leave the premises to avoid any other potential shocks.

As the two of them walked down the alleyway, Aria spoke up. "Thanks," she said. She paused for a few seconds. "Um, I'm sorry about…you know."

Tris shook his head. "Don't apologise. Just tell me what you know."

Aria took a deep breath. "Right." She began telling her story.

* * *

20 minutes earlier

* * *

Aria woke up on a cold, hard floor. She shivered and pulled herself upwards. She had a massive headache. Where… where was she? As she opened her eyes, her vision was unfocussed for a few moments. As the world slowly came into view, she came face-to-face with a massive floating metal beast. "Are y…" the figure paused. "Are you okay?" it said.

Aria scampered backwards to find a wall a few feet behind her. She looked around frantically and saw two giant red eyes adorned on greyish-silver body. It was a Metang.

"W-who are you? What's going on?"

The Metang spoke slowly. "I…don't know. You just…appeared." The voice was monotone. Robotic.

Aria held her head in her hands. Then, she saw her own hands. They were pure white. She looked over her body, and her legs were green. And what happened to her hands? All she had were a few nubs? She felt a pressure build deep inside her.

She saw a door behind the Metang. She sprinted out of it with a speed she didn't know she had. "WAIT!" the Metang said, but she was too busy running away.

She looked around the city. Nothing looked familiar. Buildings stretched high into the sky in strange spirals of grystal. Pillars of light shot into the sky in the center of the spirals. She pushed past so many unfamiliar shapes. A yellow dragon that towered over her. A bird twice the size of her. Still she kept running. All the while a pressure built in her gullet that she couldn't explain.

And finally she found a puddle of water on the ground. She saw her whole body. And it wasn't her body. It was white and green and her proportions were all wrong. Still the pressure built.

She stared into the reflection for a few more moments, stunned. A voice snapped her out of it. "Stop! It's me, Emir!"

She saw the metal monster chasing after her. She ran away again, pushing past pokemon after pokemon with her eyes blurred with tears. She didn't know what was going on, she just needed to get out of here. She took a final step and touched nothing. And she was falling. Falling through the air, or maybe through nothing at all. The pressure built and built. There was a bright flash of light and she was gone.

And the next thing she knew, she was in a dark alleyway. Tris said, "Face me, you coward." Soon, he said, "Who are you," and she realized she didn't know.

* * *

As Aria told the story, she left out a few details. Most of all, she didn't say she was a human, or that she was in the wrong body. She didn't know how Tris would react. She didn't know what kind of person- no, pokemon he was. She didn't think he would believe her.

Tris thought over the story Aria just told. It was unbelievable, yet for some reason it sounded entirely plausible to him. He saw no malice in Aria's eyes. He began pacing. "So why did you panic like you did when you saw your reflection?"

Aria blinked a few times, trying to think of a plausible excuse. "Uh, sorry, I thought it was obvious. I realized I didn't know who I was."

Tris narrowed his eyes. "Wait. I thought you realized you didn't know who you were when I asked you about it."

Aria's heartrate increased almost imperceptivity. "Right. That was when I realized I didn't know who I was. When I looked myself in the puddle, I just realized I didn't recognize my body. I wasn't thinking about other memories at the time."

"You didn't recognize your body?"

"I guess? Maybe my mind was just hazy…"

Tris looked at her again in disbelief. "Who are you?" he said.

"I wish I knew," Aria said.

The two of them exited the dark alley and entered the streets of Melloetta city, and the wider world of Pokemon.

* * *

 _A/N: Sorry for the exposition dump at the start of the chapter. Hope it didn't turn too many people off. Since the short description drops some of the mystery the story could have with the amnesia plotline inherent to the PMD games, I thought it made sense to go all the way and have the story spoil itself, not the short description! Not to say there won't be intrigue. Even in the past, parts of the story are gonna be revealed. But for the stuff that's common knowledge to the citizens, it felt to me that it would work better to bring it out here instead of Tris having to spend a chapter and a half explaining it to Aria. Hopefully the world's interesting enough and my voice is good enough to make it work well._

 _Second note: First time writing a story in soley third person! Hope it fits the story well. Not much to say about it, just a new style._

 _Third note: Been a while since I posted, huh? I blame writer's block. But I'm back with this story! Depending on the reception and how much I'm feeling the burnout, I'll continue it at a rate that works for me. I don't want to frontload 12 chapters in 3 weeks and never upload again!_

 _If you liked the story, don't forget to favorite and follow it! Me too, if you want. I have another pokemon centric fic I might update sometime, as well as a few Steven Universe fics. Just a subtle suggestion. Also, I always appreciate reviews! Whether you like the story or not, I'll try to take criticism to heart._

 _Next time: The two of them dig into Aria's memories to see what they can figure out, and I develop the world a little bit, too. See you guys then!_


	2. Light and Pressure

Light and Pressure

* * *

As Aria and Tris emerged from the alley, Aria looked around. She saw what the city looked outside of that small alleyway. The glass monoliths reaching for the sun took her attention the most, of course. Had she been under those things this whole time? She expanded her gaze to the rest of the city. Lampposts lined the street, unlit at the moment. Trees stuck out of the ground, interspersing the concrete underneath. As she looked closer at the ground, she noticed something odd. A musical score lined the streets beneath them, with a song imposed in its lines and bars. It didn't go down their alley, but rather through the two other branches of the 3-way fork. Aria didn't really know music (whether that was because of memory loss or lack of talent overall, she didn't know), but it was clearly a functioning song.

Aria glanced at Tris. "What's up with the music on the ground?"

Tris grinned. "Oh, that. They call it the Final Melody. It was written by Meloetta herself, in celebration for weathering the storm! So they say, anyways. Travelers often walk along that trail, playing the song as they go. To play the whole song, it's like a marathon. It takes around 5 hours to complete the whole piece, all the while changing your walking speed with the tempo of the song and making sure you never miss a note. It's always been said that Meloetta would bless anyone who played the song perfectly, not a single note missed. Pretty cool, huh?"

Aria stared at him, half of the words registering. She wasn't really sure who Meloetta was, or why anyone would bother to do something like that. Not wanting to drag the conversation out, she nodded like she understood.

Tris stepped forwards to get a closer look at the Melody. As he did so, Kallie and Thomas jumped from behind nearby lampposts and yelled, "Surprise!" Tris nodded at them once. Aria physically jumped and scrambled back a few feet.

Tris got a closer look at the two of them. They were each covered in bruises, despite the healing properties of the berries he gave them. His demeanor changed to one of concern. "Are the two of you okay?" he asked.

"Sheesh," Kallie said. "Not even phased, huh? We're fine. A little bruised, that's all."

"What happened to the monster?" Thomas said. "Did you beat it?"

"N-no." Aria said. She remembered the story Tris had told the police. "Apperently it disappeared just after you guys left. I came outside when I heard the commotion. We're not really sure what it was…" she trailed off as Tris held up a flower toward her.

Tris narrowed his eyes at his pupils. "Can you guys keep a secret?"

The two of them exchanged a look, grinned, and nodded viciously.

"You won't tell anyone? Not even the cops? Not even _your parents?_ "

The two of them exchanged a much more serious look before nodding again.

"Ta-da." He said with dramatic flourish, gesturing towards Aria.

Silence. He waited several seconds. The ambient music of the city enveloped the scene.

"She's the one that attacked me!" he said.

"WHAT?" Thomas shouted.

"You could have phrased that better," Kallie said at the same time.

"It's complicated. I promise, I'll explain more once I-" he finished processing what Kallie said. "Wait, what was that, Kallie?"

"Nothing," she said.

"No, I heard that. How do you suppose I could have done this better?" Tris said

"You could have made it clearer you were talking about the monster when you said, 'Ta da.'"

Tris shook his head. "If I'd done that, the buildup wouldn't have been nearly as strong,"

Kallie tilted her head. "It would've been really easy. How about-"

"This is extremely off-topic!" Thomas yelled.

"Right," Tris said. He shook his head again, this time to clear his thoughts. "As I was saying, I'll explain the rest of it to you when I can."

Thomas hesitated. "But why did she attack us?"

Aria shrunk a little. Tris stayed confident. "I should be more specific," he said. "I'll explain when I understand the situation fully myself. For now, what I do know is that I don't think she was malicious or anything."

"Are you sure?" Thomas said, with a nervous glance towards Aria.

"Trust me, you don't need to be wary of her. I promise it'll all make sense later. I'm taking her to the library for now, but don't tell anybody, okay? Act natural."

Aria untensed her body and tilted her head towards Tris. "You're taking me where?"

"Understood," the other two said, ignoring her. Thomas was a bit wary, while Kallie said so with confidence. The two of them exchanged a particular look and began whistling in unison as they began to walk away. A few passersby glanced over, impressed.

"And cut the absulutley un _natural_ whistling!" Tris said.

They groaned. "But we practiced so hard on it," Kallie said.

"You should have spent the time you did learning to whistle simultaneously and harmoniously, I don't know, _training?_ What use could whistling like that possibly have?"

The two of them sighed. They cut the whistling and walked away.

"I'm sorry," Aria said. "What was that about a library?"

Tris turned his attention to her. He stared, as if it was obvious. "I wanted to see if I could find out what city you came from. A floating island with spirals of crystals on it isn't exactly nondistinctive. The library would be the best place to find out about that."

"Oh. Right," Aria said. She considered the thought. "Would spirals of crystal be distinctive?" Considering this city's architecture, it wouldn't surprise her if they weren't.

"Dunno," Tris said. "It seems pretty distinctive to me. But I can't say for sure. I've never researched what other cities looked like. Maybe quite a few cities look like that. But even if that is the case, it's worth narrowing it down. And that's the worst case-scenario. More likely, we'll get a solid answer. No matter what, we'll get information, right?"

"I suppose so," Aria said. Satisfied with the plan, Tris pivoted and began marching toward the library. Aria hesitated for a moment, then followed close behind.

The two of them followed the Final Melody for a while, then merged away from it and onto a busy road.

Now that she wasn't distracted by Tris, Aria had time to focus on the city around her again. She was awed by the structure of the city itself. The glass buildings stretched upwards with seemingly no structural support, and somehow the glare of that glass never got in her eyes, no matter where she looked. She looked down the roadway they were walking on. In the middle, fast pokemon ran by. A pair of Zebstrika sprinted past, followed by a Rapidash. Beside that, a cable ran above the road. It originally seemed unobtrusive, but after a few minutes she saw a cable car run down the line. There were no ordinary cars, but the city seemed to manage.

Wait… how did she know what a car was? A picture of a car appeared in her memory. She knew what it did, she knew the names of each of its parts, the headlights, the wheels, the roof. Yet she couldn't figure out how she learned it. As she focused on that blank space in her memory, a searing headache wracked her skull. A recognizable pressure began to form deep within her stomach, the same she'd felt when she first woke up in this body.

She stopped walking. For a moment, she panicked. Her heart rate increased dramatically and the pressure built and built. In her head, images of the bruised figures of Kallie and Thomas echoed through her mind. She didn't want to hurt anyone. Images of the explosion of energy danced in her head and she couldn't get them out. The pressure built faster and faster.

Aria clancehd her fists. _No._ She refused to let anyone get hurt again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, focussing solely on the sound of her breath.

In…

Out…

Someone brushed past her and she lost concentration. The pressure increased for a moment. She ducked into a side street and kept breathing.

She wasn't going to let it happen again. It wasn't an option. She took another deep breath. Finally, the pressure stopped building. It didn't decline, it just sat at the bottom of her stomach. She continued to take slow deep breaths.

It took Tris several seconds to realize he no longer heard Aria's footprints behind him. He had been lost in his own thoughts. Mainly, he didn't know if he could trust Aria. Yeah, she seemed honest, but something about her story seemed wrong to him. Speaking to Thomas and Kallie reminded him of what, exactly she did. The very first thing Aria did when she arrived was attack his friends, he couldn't just forgive that. He knew she didn't do it out of malice. He wanted to trust her. But he found it so hard to do so. Just as he had that thought, he noticed he couldn't hear her footsteps anymore. He turned quickly and Aria wasn't behind him anymore.

He swore under his breath for being so inattentive. He sprinted back down the path, searching frantically for her telltale white-on-green coloring. From the corner of his eye, he saw a light emanating from a nearby alleyway. Aria was standing a few feet into the alleyway, eyes closed. Her hands were pressed together, and her face was one of pure concentration. A bright light surrounded her, illuminating the normally darkened alleyway.

He took a step back. "What are you doing?" he said. For a split second, he thought she was preparing another attack.

Sensing his panic, she lost her composure for a moment, and the pressure built inside her that little bit more. She took a few more quick breaths and spoke slowly. "I'm sorry. I'm having trouble keeping it in again."

His worry for his own personal safety dissipated. He chastised himself for being so cautious, of course Aria wasn't going to attack him. "What's wrong?" he said.

"I feel the same way I felt when I woke up in the other place. A pressure inside of my gut."

He took a few seconds to process what she said. The moment he connected the dots, his worry returned in full force. "Oh. OH. **OH.** " He began pacing quickly, mind whirling. "What's going on? Do you know what triggered it?"

She took a few more breaths before speaking again. "I don't know. I thought about my memories, and then everything…" she trailed off. The glow increased ever so slightly.

Tris felt his skin tingle. The pressure in the air around him seemed to increase. Suddenly, it hit hem: he'd only witnessed what happened at the other end of the portal. At this end, he didn't know what could happen. Considering the pressure in the air, he doubted anything good. His instincts told him to run, but he forced himself to keep pacing. The light and pressure increased a little more and Aria's eyes squeezed tighter.

"Don't think about your lost memories. Obviously." Tris winced as the energy intensified. "Do you know how to stop it?"

Aria took around 15 seconds to speak again. "No. I'm doing all I can to keep it at bay."

"Just keep at it. I'll help you, I promise."

Aria nodded silently and kept concentrating. She lowered herself to the ground and entered a meditative stance. The light held steady.

Tris shut up and wracked his brain for a solution. Like Aria, he closed his eyes, but he kept pacing, acutely aware of his surroundings as he did so. This was all about psychic energy. He didn't know much about that, he wasn't a psychic type. He shook his head. What he didn't know wasn't going to help him. What _did_ he know about psychic types? Thomas was one, obviously. What would he do in a situation like this? Thomas, he was always so happy-go-lucky, he would never find himself breaking down like this. That thought struck him as important. Come to think of it, a lot of psychic types he knew were happy and playful, more so than the stereotype would present. The strongest psychic type in the PCL was one of the happiest pokemon he'd seen. He thought back to Thomas. He was always at his best when he was having fun. He was never angry, but at times he was calm. During those times, he realized, his aim was terrible. His attacks were unrefined. He put all of that information together. In his mind, he words appeared in front of him:

 **Positive Emotions Control Psychic Energy.**

Tris' eyes snapped open. "I have an idea. I'm no psychic, but if I'm right, I know what will help. Try to focus on your happy memories, the moments and things that make you the happiest. I think that's how other psychics focus their own energies. Try to think of something happy, okay?"

Aria listened to his words, desperate to get rid of the pressure inside of her. It seemed like a great idea. She took a deep breath and focused. She did as he said. She concentrated on the things and people that made her happy. She focused on them hard.

And then, she realized she didn't have a single happy memory left.

She didn't have any memories from before 40 minutes ago or so. In that time, she'd felt confusion, anger, sadness, and regret. At best, she'd felt relief. But as she dug into her mind, she realized she didn't have a single happy memory. She didn't even know what it felt like to be happy.

Tears formed in her eyes and the pressure built again. But only for an instant. She shut it all out. If she couldn't focus on the happy memories, she could focus on absolute nothingness. If she couldn't stop the energy, she could make it wait until they were somewhere nobody else would get hurt.

She spoke super slowly. "We need to get somewhere safe. Somewhere where nobody will get hurt when this goes off."

Tris put his flowers over his mouth when he saw her tears. "You don't…" He trailed off as a tear worked its way down his own cheek.

Aria clenched her fists. "Can you get me somewhere like that?"

"How long do you think you have?"

She took a deep breath. "As long as I have to.

Tris grasped her hand and pulled her up from the ground. "Follow my lead."

Tris had a particular spot in mind. There was an old parking lot that was recently destroyed by a sleepwalking Tryannitar. Last he'd checked, it was still abandoned, set to be wrecked once the government finally figured out what to do with it. It had been sitting, empty, for weeks. They were too far away from the edge of town, and it was too dangerous to get in a cable car with all those crowded people. All in all, it was their safest bet if Aria had to go off.

He didn't want to let Aria go without trying _something_. But he wasn't sure what else he could do.

And then, a thought hit him. He didn't know if it would work. But he had to try.

He let her wrap her hand around his flower and lead her behind him, not to the lot, but to somewhere else entirely. He said nothing of this to Aria.

"It's a little far away. Do you think you can make it?" he said.

She took a deep breath. "I can do it."

His body tense, he led her through the city.

Aria kept her eyes shut. In the back of her head, a billion thoughts ran wild. She tried to focus on the nothingness, but it was hard. She felt her feet brush against grass and the wind blow on her dress. Each time one of them breached, her concentration broke, and all those thoughts came rushing to the front of her head, if only for an instant, and the pressure grew.

After a minute or so, she instead began to focus on her sensory impressions. She smelled a whiff of sweets wafting from a nearby bakery. She heard the ever-present music of Meloetta city. When she did so, they couldn't distract her anymore. She channeled that focus to keep her psychic power steady.

A few minutes of walking later, the pressure staying mostly constant throughout, Aria felt the ground change beneath her feet. It became softer, grassy. "Is this it?" she asked.

"Just a little longer."

As they walked, Aria felt herself brush past some dense foliage. After that, the music of the city melted away. Aria barely noticed the music as it played, but its absence was palpable. In its place, she heard distant crashing waves. The two of them came to a rest.

"This is it, right?" Aria said. "I can let it out?"

"Aria?" Tris said. He winced, knowing what he was about to ask. "Please, before you go, would you open your eyes for me?"

It came out of nowhere. For a moment, Aria was startled. Then fear overtook her. The thought of opening her eyes again in this state terrified her. The pressure in the air increased noticeably. "I-I can't do that. I don't know what could happen. I-"

Tris tightened his grip on Aria's hand. "I know you're scared. It doesn't have to be for long, just for a second. Please."

Aria started noticeably shaking. The world was what had always set her off. The energy grew, and she couldn't stop it. She tried to focus on the calm, but it wasn't enough anymore. Aria knew this feeling. She was very close to going off. "You need to get away from here. Thank you for everything."

He felt the pressure increase even more. Tris began to hear a ringing in his ears. Still, he held tight to her hand. "Please, just trust me. I know I'm barely anything more than a stranger to you, and I know I'm asking you a lot. I couldn't imagine what you're going through right now. But please believe me when I tell you I'm trying to help you. I can't tell you why, but please, trust me." He held her hands tighter. "I won't let go until you try."

Aria tried to pull herself away. "Is that supposed to be a threat? You're the one in danger here. I[m trying to tell you I can't stop this. You need to run away before it's too late." She took a staggered breath. "Please."

"I'm not going to run," he said. "I trust you."

Tears formed in Aria's eyes. "I…" she said. And she opened her eyes.

An ocean that seemed endless stretched out before her. It was so pure it was practically clear. She could see dozens of water-types swimming underneath the surface, each dressed in exercise gear. Several Wingull flew over the sea, the sky was a cloudless blue. In the distance, in the spot where the sky met the sea, the horizon seemed to turn silver. Aria looked around her more direct surroundings. They were surrounded on all sides by large bushes and trees. They completely blocked out the sound and sight of the city. They sat in a glade of flowers. She ran her fingers through the colors beneath her and stared into the ocean again. This little spot seemed to be a speck of pure nature.

The glow faded a tiny bit. Tris finally let go of her hand. "I'm sorry," Tris said. "I couldn't just let you go off without trying _something._ When I realized you didn't have a single happy memory, I…I couldn't let that slide. The only thing I could think of that wouldn't just make it worse was to bring you here. My mom used to take me here when I was younger. The first time I came, I remember it like it was yesterday. She covered my eyes as we walked here and only let me open them when I was able to see this beautiful view. Whenever I'm stressed, I come here and remember that time. I guess I hoped the same would work for you. I'm sorry I didn't warn you, but I was worried that if I told you ahead of time, it wouldn't work. It wouldn't have the same effect. The only way I could think of was to let it all sink in at once, without any sort of warning. This place is special to me. I wanted it to be special for you, too. Maybe it was foolish, but I had to try."

Aria was bewildered. "But if this didn't work, I'd destroy it!"

"I know," he said. "But I had to give it a shot.

Aria didn't have a response to that. So instead she stared back out at the sea. It really was calming. Yeah, it was beautiful. She focused on that feeling. She wanted it so desperately to work, to make this not all be in vain. She didn't even know how happiness was supposed to feel, was this it? Was she trying too hard and because of that Tris' efforts would all be for nothing?

She stared out at the sea again. She felt the flowers beneath her feet. She found the tranquility in the relative quiet compared to the rest of the town. Tris was willing to sacrifice all of this for her if it failed? She looked at Tris, and that made a new feeling grow in her heart. In an instant, she recognized it, an emotion she knew before she was sent here. She felt happy that he would be willing to do all of this for her. "Thank you," she said. And the pressure and light melted away.

Tris smiled. "Thank Arceus…" he muttered.

Aria laughed. It was a light, melodic laugh. As it escaped her lips, it went through a single pair of ears and then drifted across the sea. As it faded away, the only sound they could hear was the light sound of the waves crashing against the cliff face far beneath them.

* * *

 _A/N: Hope the pacing worked for this chapter. It's a lot more personal than the last chapter, with the last one taking place over a hundred years, and this being probably 15 minutes or so. I wanted it to be a bit slower, so the feelings had time to grow organically through the writing. The next chapter's going to be a bit more story-oriented, I'm going to try to get a good mix of the two._

 _I'm trying to build up a bit of a backup right now, so it's a little slow as I do that. But because of that backlog, you can expect at least weekly update for now. I already have the next one mostly written, but it needs editing._

 _Had a video gamey segment at the middle there, with the logic leading to a bolded text in the middle of the page. Tried to model it after a Phoenix Wright/Dangonrompa logic sequence. I thought it fit there pretty nicely. Considering the story's roots in video gaming, I thought it would be cool to sprinkle in references to all sorts of games. Tell me what you thought of that, all the other points I brought up in this anthor's note, and anything else in a review if you like!_

 _Fave/follow if you haven't already, be sure to review, blah blah blah._

 _Next time (And I can say for sure, because I've already written it): We visit the library and have a random encounter. See ya guys then._


	3. A History Lesson

A History Lesson

Tris and Aria stared into the sea for another few moments, sitting next to one another in silence. It was like there was nothing but them and the sea. They sat there for around 15 minutes, though it felt like an eternity.

With a start, Aria stood up. She looked down at Tris and smiled. "I'm ready," she said.

Startled, Tris looked up to her. "You're sure?"

Aria slumped her shoulders. She spoke fast, filled with what seemed like an endless supply of energy. "If I wasn't ready, do you really think I'd tell you that I was? Do you see me as that kind of person? If so, I'm really gonna have to change how I come off. Didn't you just say you "trusted me?" Seems like you changed your mind awfully fast."

Tris blinked a few times, startled by her apparent change of attitude. "Yeah. Right."

Tris stood up and lead Aria out of the clearing. They ducked through a row of bushes and the music enveloped them once again. They were in a location utterly unfamiliar to Aria. She looked around her. "Where are we, anyways? How close are we to that library?"

Tris shot another glance her way. She seemed much more confident than she was before. He knew it was probably normal, but something seemed off to him. "It's not too far away, just a few minutes." He didn't want to prod about her new outlook, but he didn't want to leave it alone, either. He spoke carefully, not wanting to let on that he thought something seemed off, while at the same time not triggering another attack. "Are you sure you're okay walking to the library again?"

Aria sighed. "I'm fine. I told you."

"We might be taking an unfamiliar route. I don't want another… you know."

Aria took a moment to glance around. Yeah, it was all a bit unfamiliar, but she didn't realy get stressed about it so long as she had that moment in her mind.

"Tris, I'm fine." She shot him a playful smile. "C'mon, cut the running around in circles with your tongue. Lead the way, won't ya?"

Tris nodded, not sure what else to say. He'd gotten more questions than answers from the question. He couldn't put his finger on it, but this didn't feel like the person he'd been hanging with for the last while. He doubted it was anything serious. Honestly, maybe she was just happier. But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel a little suspicious. Even if that was it, he wanted Aria to confirm it for him at least.

Halfway to the library, he spoke up. "Hey, Aria?" he said.

"What's up?" she said, a light ring in her voice.

Man, how was he going to say this? He didn't want to sour the mood. He stopped and turned to her. "I don't mean to pry, but you've been acting a bit strange since we left the grove." He swore under his breath. Yeah, that came out badly.

Aria honestly considered the question. She was still pretty new to this body, so she wanted to know if she was acting off. "What do you mean by strange?" she said slowly, a bit suspicious. Not of Tris, but of herself.

Hearing the suspicious tone, Tris felt even worse. "How do I say this? I don't know, I feel that an hour ago, you wouldn't have said…" He turned away. "Never mind, it's nothing."

Aria placed a hand on his shoulder. "No, it's not. What do you think is wrong with me?"

She couldn't read his face as Tris spoke. "Really, it's nothing. I'm sorry I brought it up."

"Please, tell me. I don't care if it sounds weird, anything might help me remember something. If you think I'm acting weird, I want to know what you mean."

Tris heard the sincerity in her words. He turned towards her again, a sour look on his face. "I don't know, you're acting more confident, I guess. You're taking more charge, you know? You don't have a hint of uncertainty in your voice when you talk like you often did before your… let's say "incident." I don't know if that's just me being paranoid, or something tangible, but that's what I've been thinking about. Now that I saw it out loud, it sounds dumb."

Aria thought about that. Before her freakout, she supposed she was a lot more fragile than how she felt at the moment. She thought out loud. "No, I think you're right. I do feel a little more confident than before. I guess I hadn't noticed. Maybe I'm just feeling a little more confident now that I know you have my back? I doubt it's anything more glamorous than that."

Tris nodded. Slowly, his doubts edged away. "You're probably right. I bet a lot of people would act more confused than usual if they'd had their mind erased in the past hour. You were just settling in, right?"

That gave Aria an idea. "You know, maybe I was like this before the memory loss. You said most psychics are happy, right? At least, for the stronger ones, it helps control their powers? Well, I didn't know how to be happy. When you brought me to that place, I learned again. So in yet another way, I suppose I should thank you for helping me be me again."

Tris blushed. "It was nothing." He turned away, not wanting Aria to see. He quickly changed the subject. "Sounds pretty reasonable, actually. Why you think you're happier. Sorry for being hard on you, then." He turned back, blush gone. "If this is what you're truly like, then it's nice to meet ya, Aria!"

Aria chuckled at his antics, the situation diffused. "Nice to meet you, too."

"Nah, you've already met me. I didn't have a life-changing experience or anything, I'm the same me you knew an hour ago."

Aria rolled her eyes. "You ready to go to the library or what?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Their conversation drifted to less serious topics as they approached the library.

* * *

Tris ran his flowers down rows and rows of books, past basic individual city pamphlets and complicated encyclopedias of knowledge, before settling on a children's book. It was titled, _A Guide to All of the Cities!_ Tris remembered reading it when he was younger. This would be a good starting point, at least. It was the simplest way to find what city Aria might have seen.

He grabbed it off the shelf and started paging though it. Aria looked over his shoulder as he did so.

Reading the book began taking awhile, careful to not miss any details, and got a bit noisy, so they moved to a more private room to continue.

Each page had a picture and a short description of the given city. However, none of the cities came close. Meloetta city was the closest, oddly enough, but it was clearly different from the city Aria saw all the same. Yes, there were plenty of floating islands or cliffside cities where one could fall off, that wasn't the issue. The problem was simple: no city had the telltale crystal spirals.

He shut the book. "How tall were they?"

"How tall were… what?" she asked.

"The crystal spirals," he said. If the crystal spirals weren't a landmark of the city, maybe the simple book just didn't cover them in it's single-page description.

"Oh," she said. "You think you found the city or something? I can't give you an exact measurement, but they stretched upwards into the sky as far as I could see. At least 20 stories, if I had to say. I saw dozens of them."

"Wonderful. The city doesn't exist," he said. He shelved the book.

"What?" she said. "How was I supposed to know a place I was literally in didn't exist!?" She paused. "Wait a minute. You're saying that just because it isn't in a children's book that lists, like, 40 cities means it doesn't exist!? What if it's just, I don't know, not in the book?"

He gave her an exasperated look. "That book was a book of all known cities on the planet. I don't know if you're lying, or misremembering, or someone put a false memory in your head-"

She interrupted him. "Wait, what? Again: like, 40 cities in there!"

"44, to be precise. After the storm, those are all the cities that remained."

"What!?" she shouted.

"Quiet, this is a library!" Tris loudly whispered. He glanced around, but the room they were in blocked out the noise. He took a deep breath and scratched the back of his neck. "Right, amnesia. Forgot about that for a second. Must be pretty bad if you can't even remember that much. To be brief, a hundred years ago or so, the world was almost destroyed. Only 49 cities remained, protected by all of the different legendaries. And…" He stopped, processing what he'd just said. He'd been taught in school there were only 44 that they knew existed. Whenever he said the number in everyday conversation, that's what he said. But when he was simply reciting the legends, he said 49. Because…

He paged through the book, quickly counting the known cities. Only 44, as he thought. No more had been discovered since. And he turned to the last page, titled something Tris didn't think about very often anymore. "What if it's one of the lost cities?"

Aria was still reeling from the fact that the world was basically destroyed a hundred years ago. She took a seat at a nearby chair. "I'm sorry?"

Tris thought about it all the time as a kid, but after so many years with none of them found, he'd lost hope, practically forgotten about them altogether. Now, he spoke with a hint of wonder in his voice. "As the storm tore apart the planet, each legendary saved a single city. There were 49 legendaries. So, if each one were to save a city, there should be 49, assuming Arcus had a city, too. During the first few years after the storm, dozens of cities reconnected. And every 5 years or so after that, another one was found. However, nobody's found one of the lost cities since 15 years ago, when they found Giratina's one hiding in the distortion realm! It's been so long, most historians thought that those 5 just hadn't made it through the storm. If you're telling the truth, you might have found one of the lost cities. Do you know what this means!?"

Aria blinked.

"Raquaza, Dialga, Arceus, Uxie, and Moltres' cites haven't been found. You might have seen one of those cities!" He whipped out a notebook from who knew where. "Repeat everything you can about it. Anything at all. This needs to be preserved for the history books!

"Hold on," Aria said. "What's going on? What's this about "The Storm?" Why are you so sure there should be 44, or 49, or however many cities?"

Tris took a few deep breaths. He was excited, but he supposed Aria wasn't being unreasonable to ask for an explanation. "Okay. Sit down for this one, it's a long story."

"I am sitting down," said Aria.

"…Right." He took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

"You can start any time, now," Aria said.

Tris glared at her. "I'm going, I'm going," he muttered. "A little time to think would be nice." He paused, so signify the start of the story. "It all started a hundred years ago, or somewhere close to that…"

* * *

Tris told the story Krow had told him so many times. From the prophecy, to the storm, to the period of rebuilding, all the way to the present day. Aria stayed silent throughout.

"They say that the prophecy will come true one day. Maybe, someday soon, you'll meet the heroes who will save the world."

Tris paused after finishing the story, as if transitioning out of 'prophecy mode.' He then spoke. "Hope that works as a summary for our history." He cocked his head. "Actually, that was a lot of information. Did any of that jog anything in your memory?"

For Aria, the weird thing was…it didn't. Even with the prophecy, foretelling a human who would save the world, it didn't ring a single bell in her mind. Every word of the backstory of the world took her by complete surprise. It confirmed for her more than ever that she wasn't from here. "Nothing. Sorry."

"Well, it was a long shot, anyways." An excited smile danced across his face. "You get what I mean about the lost cities, though?"

Aria sighed. "Give me a second to think, will ya?"

"Sorry," Tris said.

Aria thought about everything. Well, no, not everything. One thing stuck in her mind. Above even the storm, Aria thought about the prophecy. How could she ignore it? She was a human, just like it said. But she didn't feel like a hero. She didn't feel like she'd stand side by side with Tris, or some other pokemon, and save the world.

She set it aside in her mind. For all she knew, she was one of a thousand humans, only one of which was a hero. If that was the case, she wasn't going to pretend like she had a chance of being the true hero. Heck, the prophecy could have all been a bunch of hooey. For then, she filed it away in her mind. She knew it was important, but it wasn't the time to think about it.

"I think I'm ready to hear what you have to say," Aria said. Tris' ideas were much more important right now. If she got her memory back, she'd probably learn if she was a hero. So that was much more pressing.

While Aria stared into space, deep in thought, Tris calmed down a little. While he was excited, eh couldn't let that cloud his judgement. When Aria was ready, he tried to think about the situation rationally. "While I'd love to talk about the lost cities, now that I think about it, that's not exactly the only option. There are a few options I can think of that might explain your memories. First off, you're just plain lying, and you didn't see that place at all. However, I doubt that one's it. I don't know why you'd go through the effort to make it seem like you were about to 'go off' otherwise. The only thing I can think of is a long joke, and if that was it, I'm pretty sure you would've slipped by now. So beyond that, there are a few more options to explain what you remembered. Are you with me so far?"

Aria nodded. She wasn't paying much attention initially, distracted by the history of the world, but as he spoke, she realized that this was just as important. Finding that city would bring her one step closer to getting her memory back and that would explain everything. Or at least, she hoped so. "What are your theories?"

"First off is what I already said: it's one of the lost 5 cities. I think that's pretty self-explanatory. Secondly, whatever erased your memory also put the memory in your head of a city that didn't exist. Of course, beyond that, there are a few sub-options. Maybe you did that somewhere else, and the memory was warped to make it seem like somewhere that didn't exist. Or maybe the memory is entirely fictional. Either way, the basic idea is the same."

Aria shuddered. She hadn't even considered it until Tris brought it up. "Do you think that's even possible?"

"I dunno," he said. "I'm not exactly an expert on memory loss. But if someone has the power to take a memory away, I wouldn't be surprised if they had the ability to give a false one back. Still, if that was the case, I would wonder why they would bother to use a fake city. As a red herring, perhaps?"

"I don't know," Aria said. "That memory feels as real as that alleyway, and especially the park. I don't think it was fake."

"I get that," he said. "We might need to find an expert in memory loss to find out if that's normal. Until then, we can't dismiss the possibility."

"Yeah," she said sadly. She didn't like the possibility that her memories had been messed with. "Did you have any other ideas?"

"I have one more, but it's not very glamorus. Maybe there is a city with the spirals of crystal you saw, and the crystals weren't included in the children's book."

Aria chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose that would be pretty simple."

The two of them left their private "reading" room and Tris headed over to a sequestered shelf. He grabbed a handful of books, a series that went into a more in-depth guide on each city. "I'll page through these when we get home," he muttered.

He had the librarian, a froslass, write down the books he wanted to take out.

When Tris met eyes with hers, he swore under his breath and smiled a little too wide. He was noticeably uncomfortable. "Friday again, huh? My, how time flies. Well, it's just the three of these for today, Ms. Sage."

Ms. Sage didn't seem to notice his discofort. She opened a comically oversized book and turned to the 'T's. She glanced upwards. "You seem to have an overdue book," she said.

"I do?" he said. He wracked his brain. "Which one?"

She adjusted her glasses and looked at the messy handwriting. "The Adventures of Captain Slowpoke, book 3."

"What?" he said. "My brother must have taken it out in my name! I swear, I'll get that in by tomorrow."

"Well, that's good to hear."

He waited a few moments. "I don't suppose I could check out these in the meantime…?"

She glared at him silently.

"I'll take that as a no."

Aria spoke up. "I could take them."

Tris blinked a few times. "That's a great idea!" He turned to the Librarian. "Make a new entry for "Aria." She just moved in.

"Already there," she deadpanned. Tris' eyes widened as he saw Aria's name on the page, no last name given.

"H-how?" he said.

Aria shrugged. "Magic, right? I don't understand how you would be surprised by anything after living in a world of magic for any more than, let's say, _an afternoon._ "

He glared at Aria before returning his gaze to Ms. Sage. "Thanks. Just these three books."

"Not so fast," she said. "I still need a mailing address for when you inevitably don't return these books in three weeks."

Aria froze. She didn't have a…

"Oh, that's fine. Copy my address," Tris said.

Aria stared at him, startled. As she opened her mouth, Tris held up a hand. "We can talk later," he said. "Let's just get out of here before the librarian changes her mind."

"Sure," the librarian said, ignoring the second part. She waved her hand and the address appeared on the book, followed quickly by the names of the three books the two of them wanted to borrow. "Have a nice day."

He blinked several more times before thanking her, bagging the books, and leaving the building.

They had sat in the library for a while, paging through books and telling stories. By the time they exited the building, it was getting darker. The sun hung low in the sky.

As they left the library, Tris muttered loudly to himself. "An amnesiac could have exploded into my life any day other than Friday. And she could have _not_ needed the library. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Aria could have come. But nope, she comes the only day of the week that librarian works. Probably doesn't even work there. Just a ghost that came with the building that shows up every Friday..."

Aria cleared her throat, causing Tris to trail off. "If you're done, I'd like to ask. Why your address?"

Tris shrugged. "I thought it would make sense to keep you at my place for the time being. If you don't have anywhere else to go, we have a bed at my place."

"Are you sure?" Aria said. "I don't want to be a burden to you. And even if you're fine, are you sure your parents would say yes?"

"Oh, they're not around anymore," he said. "It's just me and my bro in the old building."

"Oh. I… I'm so sorry."

Tris chuckled. "Nah, don't be. I know some other guys who have it so much worse."

"I mean, just because others have it worse, it doesn't mean that both of your parents aren't…" she trailed off. "I have no idea how that must feel like."

He stared at her for a few moments. Then, he laughed. "Oh, that's rich! Nah, they're fine. They're explorers! They go out on adventures and stuff, out in the world beyond the boundaries of the city. Heck, they still come home every 6 months or so with cool presents they got from the mystery dungeons! It's a weird situation, but it works pretty well for us."

Aria shook her head. "You really need to work on getting that part out _first_ next time…"

"Why? I thought it was pretty obvious."

"Never mind," she said. Satisfied, Tris turned and began walking towards his house, Aria following close behind. But after a few steps, Aria couldn't resist. "And by the way, Ms. Sage didn't seem that bad. Maybe you just need to be more open to things you can't immediately explain. Be a little less _suspicious?_ "

Tris walked a little faster, causing Aria to have to jog to keep up. He said nothing. Aria smiled, knowing she'd won.

* * *

 _A/N: Lighter chapter here. Mostly just character stuff, minus any explosions. We liken the chemistry of the main duo?_

 _Sorry for the break, BTW. I've been on vacation for a week with little internet access. I'll be releasing another chapter fairly soon, with a bit more stuff going on in it. At least, I'll try to get it out fairly soon. But I felt this was a good stopping point for the chapter._

 _Tried to sprinkle in some world building. I like the world I've built here, so I want to have more of it come out as we go through the story, both stuff Tris already knows and the audience doesn't and surprises for both the characters and the audience._

 _Remember to fave, follow, review, whatever, so you catch the next chapter, and get to tell me what you think._

 _About the Next time last time… a little bit of fiddling later, this chapter no longer has that random encounter I eluded to last time. So this time for real, I know what's coming, becauase I already have the whole thing written._

 _Next time: We have a random encounter, as previously stated. Returning readers beware, here be one of my signature fight scenes. See you guys then!_


	4. Random Encounter

Random Encounter

After a bit of walking, the duo of Tris and Aria stepped onto a major road, Tris holding a newly acquired bookbag. Before that point, they'd been taking mostly side streets, but Tris said the road was the best way home. Aria wasn't too worried; so long as she kept thinking happy thoughts, she would be fine.

But after a few minutes, stray thoughts began to enter her consciousness. She saw dozens of types of Pokemon and knew all of their names. She didn't know why. She looked to the sky and wondered if it was the same one she knew back at home. The sun was setting, would the night sky show the same stars? She tried to focus on happy memories of the past few hours, but that brought out the most pervasive thought: this road reminded her of the time she almost went off. And Aria began to feel a bit of pressure form in her gut.

More than anything else, she was frustrated. She'd been such a hassle for Tris, she didn't want it all to go wrong again. Beyond that, she, personally, didn't want to need to think about all of this. She wanted to be able to go places and not worry about whether some sensory impression would cause her to go off. She could feel herself slipping back to being the person she was when she first came here, if only a little bit. She could feel her confidence melting away and she hated it. She wanted to push through it and prove she was strong, but she didn't want to put everyone in danger just by being there. She stopped in place and took a few deep breaths.

Hearing her footprints stop, Tris glanced back at Aria and saw the telltale glow. It was faint, but there all the same. "If this is too much for you, I know another way home."

She nodded, grateful. At least she didn't have to say it. "That would be nice."

Tris grimaced when out of Aria's view, though. The road they were walking on, the one that made her unstable, it was the best way back home. All the other routes that he'd taken in the past brought them down a major road. Besides those, he didn't know much about the neighborhood. He knew it would probably be fine, but he wasn't entirely comfortable bringing an amnesiac through a neighborhood just as unfamiliar to him as it would be to her. And with all the rumors flying around, young girls going missing, he couldn't help but worry. Still, he pushed his fears aside. He was probably just being paranoid. They turned off the main road, careful to look around him for any suspicious characters.

* * *

Once they were off of the main road, everything got a bit greener. In front of most of the houses, there was a healthy grass growing. Many houses also had flower beds. Still, Tris kept his wits about him. A pretty neighborhood wasn't the same thing as a safe neighborhood.

Once they merged out of the main road, Aria was able to clear her head quickly. She didn't really notice Tris' odd behavior, too busy thinking of other things. For a minute, she simply focused on keeping her psychic powers at bay. After she was confident in keeping that up, she broadened her focus. She thought back to her memory, of the lost city. If she could just get more of her memory back, she would have to worry anymore.

After a few blocks of walking, Aria had an idea. "Do you think the library would have an encyclopedia of all of the different pokemon in it? I was thinking over the two pokemon I saw clearly before I came here. I only saw them for a few seconds, but I think I might be able to identify them if I saw a picture."

Tris gave a noncommittal "Uh-huh," and went back to scanning the environment. He barely heard the words, too focused on making sure they didn't get lost or attacked. They were a few blocks from his house, he wasn't going to let his guard down when they were so close.

"That's great! We should go back to the library tomorrow. Any information helps, right?"

"Yeah," he said, little emotion in his voice.

She noticed his lack of enthusiasm. Compared to some of their other ideas, Tris was acting unenthused. She tensed up a bit. "You don't think it's a good idea?"

"No, I think it's fine," he said. He'd heard bits and pieces of the plan, not really thinking of its quality, but it sounded decent at a glance, at least. However, his voice was still emotionless.

Aria frowned. "I knew it, you don't like it. You'd be enthusiastic about it if you liked it. So, what's wrong with the plan?"

Tris couldn't exactly give an easy answer to that one. He sighed. It would probably be easier to just explain what was going on than to keep up what he'd been doing. He stopped and turned around. "No, it's not that. It doesn't have anything to do with your plan or anything, I suppose I'm just a little on edge. I'm probably just being paranoid, but-"

"Behind you!" Aria shouted. She pointed at a specter floating behind him. A blast of pink light illuminated a glowing pair of eyes, floating just behind Tris. There was an audible crack as the air around the eyes distorted slightly. A purple shape was illuminated by the light, immediately going limp and falling to the ground. It all happened in about a second.

Tris spun quickly, looking at whatever lay on the ground. After a few moments, he stepped aside to let Aria see what was going on.

Aria looked passed Tris, still confused as to what had even just happened. She saw a Haunter on the ground, spirals in its eyes. Seeing the pokemon on the ground, she fully processed the situation. She took a step back and stared at her hands. "D-did I do that?" she said. Before she could feel panicked about it, protective instincts kicked in. She ran over to the figure. "I am so sorry!" she said.

However, Tris shook his head angrily. His flowers were clenched, turning to buds. "Don't be sorry. You stopped him as he was using hypnosis on me."

Aria put her hands over her mouth. "W-what? He was trying to hypnotize you?"

Tris shot her a bewildered look. "What? No, he was using hypnosis, a move that puts you to sleep. I began to feel it just before you attacked him. Considering the rumors I've heard, young girls going missing off the streets, the creep probably thought I was one. I get that a lot, considering my appearance. That, or he wanted to knock me out to get to you. Maybe he wanted something else unrelated to all that, I don't know. But good people don't sneak up on you and use hypnosis! He doesn't deserve your apologies." He spat at the downed figure.

Aria held her arms together. "Is that kind of thing really happening around here?"

"Unfortunately, yeah. I'd heard rumors, but I think the proof is pretty evident right there," he said, pointing to the Haunter. "I should've told you about this. I thought it was nothing. But no, I didn't want you to worry about it, and I-"

Aria interjected. "Don't beat yourself up about it. You didn't know something like this would happen. What's important is what we do now."

Tris started pacing. He thought about the best way to handle all of this. Neither of them knew any moves to wrap the Haunter, and they weren't strong enough to carry it. They needed someone more professional to handle all of this. "We need to inform the police. You don't know where to find them, so I'll have to go there myself. You can…" he trailed off. "I'll lead you there."

Aria knew what he wanted to say. "I can stay here. Someone needs to watch over this Haunter."

Tris nodded slowly. "You're sure? No, don't give me your sarcasm." He paced back and forth a few times. "I'll be back in a few minutes, just hold tight. If he wakes up, don't engage with him. Run. You got that? I won't leave unless you promise me that."

Aria hesitated for a moment, then clenched her fists and nodded. "Be quick, okay?"

"Do you know where the 'perfect spot' is?"

Aria nodded. How could she forget?

"We'll meet there if you have to run away, okay?"

Aria gave him another nod. Tris turned and ran down a side street and disappeared, leaving Aria all alone with the Haunter.

After he turned the corner, Aria immediately turned her eyes to the Pokemon. She wanted to be sure to follow Tris' instructions. However, it didn't take long for her to be caught off guard. The moment she turned her eyes towards it, it stirred. Its eyes twisted inwards, forming small dots within white pupils. Gravity seemed to stop having an effect on its body as it lifted itself off the ground. It grinned wider than it should've had the ability to do so. Its body was hardly damaged at all. Aria was too stunned to run away immediately.

When he spoke, it came out as a harsh whisper. The voice could read the phone book and sound creepy. "Hello, Aria. Now that your friend is gone, I can ask you formally." He chuckled. "Would you play with me?"

Aria took a step back. For a moment, she was too stunned to run. "H-how? You were knocked out!"

The Haunter rolled its eyes. "I'm a ghost. It's not that difficult to manipulate my eyes to become spirals." Aria winced as his eyes contorted and twisted in on themselves. "Can't exactly see while they're like this, but it's a pretty decent party trick, isn't it?"

Aria took another step back. "I guess so?" She said.

Its eyes rearranged themselves into normal eye-shapes. "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My name's Siren."

Aria glanced behind her to find for an escape route. The street behind her was clear, not a person or obstacle in sight. She didn't know her way through the glass spears behind Siren, but that didn't matter. As long as she could get around a corner, she was pretty sure she could get away. It was fairly open, with a wide road and greenery to duck into if Siren started chasing her. She looked back towards Siren and took another step back.

However, she felt her back connect with a wall. One that wasn't there when she glanced behind her. She slowly turned behind her and saw a monolith of stone, stretching to twice her height. She took a step back, unwittingly stepping closer to Siren. On it, her name was written: Aria. It was a tombstone. She covered her mouth.

Siren whispered into her ear. "Fun, right?"

Aria saw him floating inches away from her head, shrieked, and bolted around the tombstone. However, she didn't even make it around the front face of it before another one raised from the earth just beside that one. And as she tried to run past the second tombstone, another one raised. As she sprinted past grave after grave, they turned inwards, forming a circle of entrapment. Each one spawned just before she could run through. She noted the timing. 3/4ths of the way through the circle, she made her move. Just as the tombstone raised, she leapt into the air, towards the place the tombstone was about to be. Her feet met with the top of the grave as it rose from the earth. By some force of luck, she kept her balance perfectly. Without skipping a beat, she leapt down from atop the stone and sprinted away, glancing back to see the gravestones finish rising, trapping Siren at his own game.

Aria heard Siren's whisper again, though she didn't see him. "Funny. Every time someone does that, they think they've won."

The ground rumbled beneath Aria and a tombstone rose from beneath her, angling towards the circle. Like a spring, it launched her back towards the circle of stones. As she flew through the air, she tried to roll to break the impact. She quickly curled herself into a ball and awkwardly rolled across a grassy surface, with a dull pain ringing throughout her body as she did so.

Body aching, Aria stumbled upwards. Most of her body was fine, and the pain was fading, but her left shoulder was especially bad. She wasn't sure why, she supposed she just landed on it badly. She covered it in her other arm as she looked around her.

She surveyed the area, for an escape route or anything else that could help her. All around her were tombstones, all sporting the name, "Aria," with no other information given. Half of the ground beneath her was a sort of black glass, while the other half was a nice, green grass.

On the glassy side floated Siren. He smiled even wider than before. "Okay, I think I'm done playing. Let's do something else! How about… dancing." And with that, he lunged at Aria.

In an instant Siren was there, as fast as a Rapidash. Before Aria even knew what was going on, she was pummeled by a directed jab, hitting her right in her bad shoulder. She fell to the ground, screeching in pain. She scrambled to her feet, shoulder still pulsing with pain. She looked around her for the direction Siren might come from next.

She saw Siren an instant before he charged. She tried to defend herself, lashing out as he came close, but she didn't know how. Her hands passed right through him. And its hands didn't pass through her. Siren pounded on her shoulder, and she went down.

Again, Aria scrambled to her feet. But much slower this time. She was still hurting from the last hit, and her vision was starting to blur from the pain. Still, she thought she had a chance. If Siren was going to attack the same point over and over again, at least she knew where to protect. With that thought in mind, she held her hands over the shoulder, at the very least to try to cushion the blow. She focused all the psychic energy she had over the shoulder, hoping it would help block the attack. Once again, the Haunter sprinted towards her, 0-60 in a spit second. And then he was behind her again and her shoulder erupted in pain. She didn't even know what had just happened, just that she was on the ground in agony again. It hurt a hundred times more than the first two times.

Aria strained herself to get up again. With the beat of her heart, her shoulder erupted into pain. No blood came out, but she didn't even know if this body had that at all. But she told herself she had to get off the ground or it would all just happen again. Part by part, she raised. Arm. Leg. Other leg. She tried the other arm, but it refused to move. So she used the other 3 limbs the wrench her way up. But halfway up, her strength all vanished. She collapsed back to the ground.

Aria couldn't get up. She could barely even move. She felt her muscles straining, desperate to get up again, to try to do _something_ to block to assault, but she felt the pain even more. The pain overtook her, and she lay limp on the ground. She closed her eyes and waited for another strike, one which she could do nothing about.

And yet, it never came.

For 15 seconds, she waited, and there was nothing. She felt a hand lift her head up. She squinted her eyes open and saw a blurry figure. "Tris…?" she said. She slowly opened her eyes further.

She heard a piercing laughter. "Nope, just me!" Siren whispered. She jerked her head back and stumbled backwards. "There you go, I knew you had it in ya to move again!"

Aria tried to give a retort, but no words came out. She shivered slightly, then went limp again.

Siren slumped. "Come on, It's no fun to attack a downed target. Get up already!"

Aria said nothing.

Siren sighed. "Fine, I'm patient. I'll wait."

And suddenly, Aria felt a ray of hope. A hint of a smile appeared on her face. If she lay on the floor for long enough, then maybe Tris would…

Siren laughed. "Oh, I see that smile. You want to wait for your friend to get back here, don't you? That's why you're choosing to lie there. Oh, go ahead, wait. I'd like to see him try to save you." He gestured to the tombstones that surrounded them. "Any damage you inflict on these babies, they reflect back on you. Took me forever to get the move to work, but man, it's potent. So wait all you want. I don't discriminate my playtimes by gender."

Aria's pain melted away. This thing was threatening to destroy the one thing that made her happy. A pressure built in her gut and she didn't care. It grew faster than it ever had before and she didn't care. Siren saw her begin to glow, and a sort of pressure form in the air.

Aria slowly raised herself off the ground.

Siren thought little of the effects. "There we go! Still some spirit left in ya, I see-"

In an instant, Aria was gone from where she stood and was now beside Siren.

Siren tried to jerk backwards, but he was stopped by Aria's cold hand on his shoulder.

Aria's voice went to a cold whisper. "You should probably know something about me. There's a bomb inside me just waiting to go off. A psychic missile that will do damages you can't even imagine, and I mean that literally. You keep making me angry… well, don't worry, it won't kill me. It will, however, most certainly kill you. I might not have speed or strength or skill, but in the ways that count, I'm a hundred times stronger than you are. If that's too confusing for you, let me put it this way. If you step out of line, if you threaten Tris ever again, I can and will kill you. I'm not trapped in here with you. You're trapped in here with me."

For a second, Siren's eyes showed true terror. Then, they relaxed. "You're bluffing."

"Try me," Aria said.

Aria slowly walked to the middle of the ring. She didn't know where her confidence was coming from, but she didn't care. Somehow, she knew that she now had the power to win.

Siren hesitated for a moment. Then, he shook it off. This Pokémon's bluster couldn't chase him away. He charged.

Aria's instincts kicked in, drawing from a reserve of speed she didn't know she had. She dodged to the side faster than she thought was possible, and Siren completely missed her. She jabbed at the Haunter twice before he could pass by. The attacks passed through harmlessly, but it sent a clear message.

Siren's smile faded. He hovered above Aria, just out of reach. "You… dodged me." It was halfway between a statement and a question. Without any more warning, he dashed forwards once again, not aiming for the left shoulder, but straight for the belly.

Again, Aria felt instinct kick in. With a pirouette, she dodged again, not bothering with a counter-attack this time. With the movement came a wave of exhaustion. She might have more stamina normally, but she was still battered and bruised, even if she didn't feel it. She figured she only had enough one more dodge. Of course, she wasn't going to let the Siren know that.

Her movements had a visible impact on Siren. "That first one wasn't a fluke? How are you doing that that?"

He quickly launched a shadow ball, hoping to catch her off-guard. However, it was much slower than his other attacks. It was clear he was unpracticed in using it. Kirlia simply stepped to the side and it slowly sailed past her. Siren scowled, still hovering in the air.

Seeing Siren's confidence finally waver, Aria began to feel her fighting spirit grow further. She hid a few short, heavy breaths with a confident grin. "You should know better than to challenge a _Kirlia_ of all pokemon to a dancing contest."

Aria braced for another attack. However, none came. Siren's form slumped and he frowned. "Come on, man," he said. And with a single line, his voice went from a creepy whisper to a pathetic whine. "I've got this thing going. Like, it's supposed to be a play to the whole, "Let's dance," meaning to fight thing. It's not literal, it's really clever if you think about it."

"I…kinda got that," Aria said, baffled by his new attitude.

"Well, I don't care! You're not supposed to win! I'm supposed to beat you into submission as you desperately look for an exit over and over again, end of story. You were playing along just fine, what happened to that? What kind of girl would ever fight back against me?"

Aria stared. "…Wow. You're pathetic."

His voice dropped back to a whisper. "I'm terrifying."

"Dude, the whole 'edgelord' thing doesn't work once I've seen who you are," Aria said. "That line was just lame."

Siren growled and charged. However, the attack was slow. If he'd been going 0 to 60 in no seconds flat, this was more like 0 to 10. Considering this followed a dramatic change in Siren's attitude, Aria wondered if Siren's powers had to do with emotion, too. She had plenty of time to think all of this and easily dodge to the side.

Aria taunted him. "You know, dancing generally needs graceful motions. You're more… slumping with style."

Siren charged again, furious. He went even slower than before. For some reason, the form of his body as he flew towards her felt familiar.

Her body moved on its own, as if she'd done this hundreds of times. Her hands lit up with psychic energy, and she grasped the Haunter's body. The energy allowed her to physically touch him like she hadn't before. One foot acted as a pivot, and she used Siren's momentum against him. She flipped him over her head and sent him crashing into a nearby tombstone. As he crashed into the stone, the tombstone turned a sickly purple.

The stones were all ghost-type. They were designed to do damage when someone tried to escape by breaking through them, as Siren said. But when Siren crashed into one, he ignited the energy instead. And ghost-type is super effective against itself. A blast of energy coursed through Siren, and both a pathetic whine and a demonic whisper rung through the air. And then everything went silent, even as the energy continued to erupt from the stone. The stone shattered and the Haunter lay limp. This time he wasn't acting. As Siren's power faded, the rest of the tombstones sunk back into the ground.

Aria stood triumphant. The pressure in her gut melted away. She struck a victorious pose, arms bent in a fighting position, as if to say, _You're down for the count? Well, I've barely begun_. It felt amazing.

It felt…familiar.

And the instant she had that thought, everything went white.

* * *

Aria's body was still. She stood in the same victorious position she was in just moments before. The scene in front of her was almost identical to the real world. Yet, everything besides her and the Haunter were turned pure white, like they were floating in an endless void. The couldn't see her body anymore. Beside the Haunter, there was a black, shadowy creature, a bit smaller than the Haunter. It shifted slightly, but it's movements blurred. It was difficult to say what it was doing.

Then she heard something. "How did you do that?" She didn't recognize the voice. The sound echoed through the room, seeming to come from the smaller figure.

Then, she heard another voice, much more familiar. "One of my best friends was a Haunter. Pretty easy to take it out if you know the matchup." The voice paused. "Name's Aria, by the way. Nice to meet you." It paused again. "I'm the chosen one." Her own voice echoed through her ears.

* * *

And suddenly, whatever it was, it was gone. Aria was back at her moment of triumph, Siren lying beaten on the floor.

Aria stumbled backwards. What…what just happened? Was that a vision? A premonition? A memory?

Before she could think about it more, the pain she'd been ignoring came back in full force. She suddenly collapsed to the ground, entire body screaming in agony.

Her vision blurred and she closed her eyes. As her consciousness faded, she was happy to hear a muted Tris' voice, even if she didn't have the energy to smile.

* * *

 _A/N: So, first chapter that's basically just a big fight scene. Hope it worked for y'all. I like writing that kind of thing, so tell me what you think! Did it work? Did you like Siren? Want more action or less in the story? Let me know!_

 _Bit more stuff coming out about some of the central mystery in this chapter. The vision at the end there was, I thought, a pretty glaring clue. Not gonna say anything more than that._

 _I like putting in elements of intrigue in my stories, and this was no exception. So far, I'm personally liking the mystery of this story in particular, 'cause it's fairly different from some of my others. It's not only exploring the prophecies, and all the mysterious forces acting upon the characters, or at least that's not the main part. The answers to one of the core mysteries is locked behind one of the main characters, if they can only fish it out! I feel like a lot of amnesia plotlines ignore that aspect of the story. Like, yeah, PMD2 has the dimensional scream occasionally giving hints, but I feel like the MC's identity isn't foreshadowed much, still. It's more of a big reveal than a slow burn. I'm trying for the slow burn: more and more memories and other hints coming out over time, with the big reveal at the end. I'm gonna try to use that part of the plot in interesting ways. I'm interested to see what I've let on about her past so far._

 _Leave a review. Favorite. Follow. And that's an order, private!_

 _Next time: We see Tris' side of the story, then advance to day 2 of the story. Emotions will be a thing. See you guys then!_


	5. Chaos and Chaos and Calm

Chaos and Chaos and Calm

\- - - 5 minutes earlier - - -

Tris sprinted through the streets. In his mind, he found the best route to get to a police station. He cut through alleyways, weaved between buildings. Even then, the police station was a few minutes away. He knew he'd only leave Aria alone those few minutes, so it was unlikely she'd be put in any danger. Still, he couldn't help but worry. He did his best to run as best he could.

As he ran, the neighborhood became much more familiar as he approached the station.

He turned a corner, there it was, before him. At a glance, it looked like any other glass spire, but it had a nearly unnoticeable pink hue the other buildings didn't have, and the pokemon standing in front of it wore blue uniforms. He smiled, happy that he was almost there.

And then something came over him. An overwhelming sense of primal fear.

Tris always tried to trust his instincts, as they were usually true. When he said 'Yes' to train the pair of his disciples, he did in, in some part, due to his instincts. And so far, that was working out quite well.

However, his instincts were never supernatural. They could always be attributed to something sensory he might not have actively picked up. When he picked up his disciples, maybe he saw in their faces that they were willing to learn, saw that they showed more than shallow adoration.

This, it was different from any other time. He felt fear like nothing he'd ever known. His mind was screaming one single thought: Aria was about to die.

The fear faded, but that thought still tore away at his psyche. Something was terribly wrong with Aria. She minutes away from death. With every second that passed, she got closer and closer to the point of no return.

Tris couldn't take it. He had no idea what to do. He stopped running, and he froze, for far too long. During that time, he could almost hear a ticking clock, burning away at Aria's life. As each second that ticked away, he knew it was a second wasted, but he didn't know what to do.

He knew the police would help. This wasn't like the gritty YA novels he sometimes read, the police were good people. But he didn't know if he had enough time. How long would it take to run there? To tell a police officer what was happening, and to get them to follow him? 40 seconds, if he was lucky? What if those would be 40 seconds too late? If he'd gone right away, would it have been fine, but now it wasn't? Everything clouded in his head.

Slowly, through the clouds, a thought rose. He finally came up with a plan, after how long of freezing he wasn't sure. It was the fastest way he could think of at that moment that would definitely get someone's attention. He dropped to the ground and placed a single flower to the ground. Despite his fuzzy head, he was completely calm. This was just like soccer. Well, it was nothing like soccer, but it let him focus, unobstructed by stray thoughts. He drew from a well of power within him and spoke a single word to help him focus it: "Ingrain."

From underneath the black glass, Tris heard a rumbling. Cracks formed on its surface, quickly growing in size. As this happened, he rose to his feet and sprinted away. Planting the message wasted 10 seconds; he didn't have time to watch the result unfold. As he ran, he heard the rumbling get louder. He didn't look back.

If he was looking behind him, he would have seen tendrils of vines raise from the ground, burrowing through the streets crashing to the surface. Chunks of glass scattered the area surrounding them. Several people screamed and jumped away. As the rubble subsided, the road was left with a massive message engraved into it. "Help." Behind it, a line of vines lead in the direction Tris ran.

As Tris ran, he pointed his flower towards the ground. Behind him, cracks formed, widened, and created a trail of vines behind him. However, they were much smaller than the message. Just big enough to leave an easily visible trail, while doing as little damage as possible.

He weaved his way through the buildings once again, reverse the way he came. He began to feel tired. He was used to running, but laying so many vines behind him quickly drained his stamina. As he zeroed in on Aria's location, he was exhausted.

When he turned the corner, he half-expected all of his fears to be wrong. He expected Aria to be standing there, smiling and asking what took him so long.

He found her laying on the ground, barely breathing. Her body was battered and bruised to the point he didn't even know was possible. He stopped laying vines behind him and ran to her. He could do this, this was why he always carried Oran berries. He reached into his satchel, and…

He didn't have any left. He'd used them all in his confrontation with Aria.

He didn't carry revivor seeds on him. He had some at home, but she wouldn't make it all the way there.

"No," he muttered. "No, no, NO!" He'd made it all the way here, and he couldn't do anything?

"Help!" he screamed, as loud as he could. "Please, somebody! Help!" His voice cracked a bit. He wasn't thinking clearly enough to say anything more.

His head was swimming. How could he be so stupid? He left her all alone somewhere they'd already been attacked once. One who openly attacked them. And he left her there, all alone. She was going to die and there was nothing he could do and it was all his fault.

He desperately tore his hands through the bottom of the pouch. There were sticks and stones, berries that could heal all sorts of conditions, but none that could heal!

He went back to the pouch with the Oran berries, in an act of desperation. Maybe, just maybe, there was something he'd missed.

His hand touched something wet. There wasn't much of it, but…

"Juice!" he said aloud. "Oran berry juice!" He tossed off his satchel and turned the pouch inside out, pouring the tiny amount of juice into her mouth. "Please be enough…"

Visibly, nothing changed. But in his head, the constant instinct, telling him Aria was going to die, faded, just a little. But it wasn't gone.

He'd never been in a situation like this. Meloetta city was always so peaceful. This kind of thing was supposed to happen on the outside, not here. He'd never seen someone so close to death. Lights danced in front of his eyes. He didn't know how rational he could be.

He needed to get home. He had a stash of Revivor seeds and Oran Berries there,, If they could just make it home, Aria would be safe. He pulled a max elixir out of his bag and downed it to regain some of his stamina, and lifted Aria off of the ground. As gentle as he could handle, as fast as he could go he ran his way towards his house, just hoping he wouldn't be too late…

* * *

Aria couldn't see. She couldn't move, she couldn't hear, she couldn't feel, she couldn't speak. She felt like she was falling through an endless void.

She heard a voice, like nothing she'd ever heard before. No… she didn't hear it, per say. It resonated through her being, shaking every atom of her being into knowing the voice. It had no tone to it, only words. "I guess you can't change fate, can you?"

* * *

Aria's eyes snapped open and she woke up in a cold sweat. She took a few deep breaths. "Just a dream," she muttered to herself.

Wait a moment… where was she?

All at once, the memory of her battle with the Haunter came back to her. What happened? Was Tris okay?

She looked around her. She was in a soft bed of hay. For the second time in two days, she had woken up in an unfamiliar place with no memory of how she got there. She glanced beside her, and she saw a pane of glass stretching from the ground up towards the sky. Behind it was a road, paved of black glass. She seemed to be at the ground level of wherever this was, with a sidewald just outside her window. She saw the telltale spires of Meloetta city, too.

She looked around her more immediate surroundings. She was laying in a traditional bed, a mattress over a simple wooden frame. It was very soft. Around her, there were a few scattered pieces of furniture. A dresser to one side, a desk on the other. Overall, the room was barren. The walls were all glass, but those other than the ones to the outside were cloudy, so they acted like more traditional walls. She saw an opening in the wall, clearly a doorway. She rolled off the bed on uneasy feet, unsure of her level of injury.

She didn't feel anything as she got up, though. Her legs were steady. She used the glass to her side as a light mirror and patted herself down. She didn't seem to have any injuries on her. Slowly, she felt her shoulder. Like everything else, though, it was fine.

Actually, this was the first time she'd taken a good look at herself in a mirror. There was that puddle, but she wasn't thinking clearly at the time. With a better look at herself… dang, she looked fine. She blushed, realizing she just complimented herself. But really, she looked elegant. Without even realizing it, her posture was very formal, elegant in its own way. And her skin was pure white, not an injury on her. Maybe she could get used to this new body.

She smiled and did a little pirroette. She looked herself over again, astonished at her complete recovery. She didn't feel any of her injuries at all!

She then paused. _How long have I been out?_ She thought.

"Hello?" she called into the building. She waited for a few moments, but no response came. Unlike the last time she woke up in a strange place, she wasn't scared. Just confused.

She looked out the window again. Yeah, it was still Meloetta City. The telltale glass spires extended across the skyline. She supposed she was just in one, now. She wondered why she was never able to see through them on the outside, but she could see out clearly. But she pushed that thought aside, that wasn't important. More importantly, which spire was she in?

She figured she wouldn't figure anything out by staying still. She walked through the doorway.

She arrived in what appeared to be a living room. She looked around it. There was a wooden table in the middle of the room, as a sort of centerpiece. It had a few books piled on it, several of them open, as well as a few scattered pieces of paper. Aria took a few steps to the center of the room to examine them, but none of them looked familiar. A couch sat beside the table. Both of them were well-worn, with a few scratches on the legs of the table and a bit of sagging in the middle of the couch.

On the walls surrounding that, there were several other doors. All but one were just passthroughs, though one did have a physical door in it. That door was, of course, made of glass. Any place there wasn't a door, there was either a bookcase and picture lining the wall. Most of the pictures were heavily stylized pokemon, some of which she swore didn't even exist (Although that may have been due to her lack of memory) and the rest of the paintings were landscapes. Seemed like whoever lived here did a lot of reading; there were easily hundreds of books lining the bookshelves throughout the room.

"Hello?" she called again. Again, she didn't hear an answer.

She poked her head into another room, once again with no door to stop her. And finally, she saw someone she recognized. To be fair, one of the only people she could have recognized. Tris.

Finally, it struck her. This must have been his house! Her initial confusion melted to wonder. This was where Tris lived, huh? She knew it was wrong of her, but curiosity got the better of her. She began snooping around Tris' room. It was actually fairly small, just big enough for his bed and a single dresser, a small desk, and some walking room between them. The walls, on the other hand, were plastered with stuff on them. There were a few places you could see through the glass to the world outside, but most of the window space was taken for other things.

Each wall was radically different. On the wall to the left of her, the only one connected to his bed, there were a few post-its. Going in closer, they seemed to be some basic plans for the day. Aside from those, it was the wall you could most easily look out of, so she supposed Tris used it as a basic window. To the wall behind her, the one with the door-hole in it, there were a ton of posters. These weren't like the paintings in the main room, though, they pictured a ton of sports stars. The biggest poster pictured Alley "The striker" Roserade. To the right, there was a wall with the desk and dresser against it. It didn't seem to have anything on it besides a single picture, sitting between the two. It showed 4 pokemon: 2 Roserades, a Roselia, and a Bedew, all smiling. Likely Tris' family.

And finally, at the head of the room, directly across from the door, there was a pinboard. On it, there were several notes, connected by strings of all colors. Compared to the writings on the desk, the penmanship was quite childish, she could tell even at a few feet away. She walked over to the board to examine it closer.

On it, she saw the prophecy. In the middle of the page, in childish handwriting, there was the prophecy that predicted the two heroes. In writing, practically set in stone. The final words of her vision echoed in her mind.

" _Nice to meet you. I'm the chosen one."_

The board felt like it was calling to her. She reached a hand out for it slowly.

However, at that point, she heard a light rumbling. Aria jerked her hand downwards, jumped, and glanced over at Tris, who groaned a little. She stepped away from the wall sheepishly. "Tris?" she said.

Tris groaned and creaked his eyes open. He hadn't slept well at all the previous night. He couldn't stop thinking about Aria. He knew she was okay, so long as she got a good night's sleep, all of her injuries would be healed the next morning, but he couldn't help but worry.

Then, he saw Aria standing there, blushing. He raised with a start. "Aria! You're okay!" He jumped up and hugged her.

She tensed up for a moment, then smiled and relaxed. "Hey, Tris."

"Don't scare me like that! I thought you were dead! What happened to you?"

"Man, that's a long story." Aria sat on the bed. "The haunter attacked me-"

"The Haunter!?" Tris blurted. "Didn't you knock that thing out?"

"It was faking it, got up just as you were leaving. Anyways, it-"

"No." Tris interrupted her.

"…Yes, it did." Aria said.

"No, that can't be right." Tris sat down on the bed next to Aria. "I checked, didn't I? I made sure he was knocked out?" His tone grew angry. "No. I didn't even bother to check, did I? How stupid could I be to assume that a single attack would knock it out? Why didn't I feed it a paralysis seed, just in case? How could I have been so stupid? This is all my-"

Aria interrupted. "Don't you dare finish that sentence.

"Well, it is!"

Aria scowled. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was that Haunter, you know, the one who _physically assaulted me,_ secretly you in disguise? If not, then of course it's not your fault! Besides, I was the one that suggested I stay behind, not you."

Tris stood up. "Well, I should have said no!"

Aria stood up as well. "What possible reason would you have to say no? You couldn't have known it was awake. I didn't know, either; does that make this my fault?"

"You have amnesia. I should know better than you."

Aria clenched her fists. "I lost my memory, I'm not stupid. Don't treat me like I'm some defenseless butterfly who doesn't know any better than you."

Tris nodded a few times, seeming to take Aria's words in. The room grew silent. Tris then spoke, very slowly. "Okay then. Do you know what a reviver seed is?"

Aria thought about it for a few moments. She then shook her head. It didn't ring a bell.

"If you eat it just as you're losing consciousness, it completely restores you to full power. Eat one of those, and being KO'd doesn't matter anymore."

Aria blinked. "Huh."

If this was another situation, Tris would have acted smug for winning the argument. But he wasn't really in a mood to feel smug. He averted his eyes. "See? There's a perfectly valid thing I should have considered. What if the Haunter used a revivor seed, then faked it's KO? I put your life in danger all because I was too stupid to check." He looked Aria in the eyes. "If I'd stayed behind and given you precise instructions…no, if I 'd spent 2 seconds making sure the Haunter was actually down...then none of this would've…" He trailed off and hung his head.

Aria stared for a few seconds. What could she possibly say, here? "Well, who cares what you forgot to do? You didn't attack me, did you?"

"If I'd been more careful, he wouldn't have been able to attack you. What's the difference?"

Aria opened her mouth to speak again, then closed it. She wanted to tell him it was all going to be okay, but she didn't know how. A pressure formed in her gut due to all the stress, but she didn't notice, at the time. She was hit with a boost of confidence, to say what she wanted to say. "Will you please stop that!" she yelled, with a shaky voice. "All this putting yourself down just because you missed something that almost everyone else in the world would have missed, too. You know what? We're both fine. I don't have a scratch on me, and neither do you. I don't know how you got me here, I'm sure that was a harrowing experience. And you don't know what I had to go through on my end. But in the end, we both made it. Don't you see? We can argue about who's at fault here, later. And it's not you. But can't we celebrate? We did it! We won!" She breathed heavily. The pressure faded before she noticed it at all.

Tris had his eyes closed. A few tears formed in his eyes. "You don't get it," he said. "When I saw you there, I thought I was too late. I wasn't there to protect you."

"It's not your job to protect me."

"That's not what I mean! I mean… have you ever seen the body of someone who's about to die?"

Aria stared at him.

"Okay, bad example. But I'm saying that this city is safe. It's supposed to be protected from the dangers of the outside world. I've…never seen someone the way you looked. I mean, yeah, I sometimes see some small injuries. Some even to the extent of Thomas and Kallie yesterday, on rare occasions. But its never anything a good old Oran berry couldn't fix, you know? Everything is always so peaceful here."

He stopped talking. Aria stayed silent.

Tris took a long, deep breath. "I wonder if Mom and Dad ever have to deal with anything like this?" Tris said. "Going out in the big wide world, there aren't the same protections there are here. This town is supposed to be safe. And it usually is. But outside of the realm of a legendary, do people have to deal with looking at their friends' bodies looking like… that? Have mom and dad ever been too late?" He paused. "I'm sorry, you probably don't even know what I'm talking about."

"Well," Aria said, "If this is unfamiliar to you, too, doesn't that just mean it's the first time we're on even ground?"

Tris stared for a few seconds, absolutely silent. Then, he started laughing. He laughed harder than Aria had heard in the last few days.

He wiped away his tears as his laughter trailed off. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Well said, Aria."

Aria looked on for a few seconds. "Are you okay?"

He looked towards the wall that was one big window. "I think… I think I'd like some time to think."

Aria got up off the bed. "Okay. I think I'm gonna check out those library books in the meantime, if that's okay."

Tris nodded. "They should be sitting in the kitchen."

Aria nodded in response, not mentioning she didn't know where the kitchen was. She left the room.

Tris thought over the past day or so. Man, it had been a whirlwind, hadn't it? He didn't want to think about his confrontation with the Haunter, so he thought about what happened next, instead. Because at least then he'd be thinking of the time he actually saved someone's life.

He'd run all the way home, no obstacles along the way. He'd burst the door open and run to the kitchen, stumbling for a revivor seed. He stuffed it into Aria's mouth and waited. And in a few moments, Aria's breathing became much steadier. Her bruises began to melt away.

He focused on that, like he'd seen Aria do. Focus on the positives, and don't let your mistakes control you.

He'd sat by her bedside for hours before his brother forced him to get some sleep himself.

He focused on that feeling of loyalty, even to someone he barely knew. Though he supposed they'd already bared their hearts to each other, so he couldn't say they barely knew each other anymore. Then, he focused on the sense of loyalty he would give to the closest of friends.

He looked up to the foot of his bed. He saw the billboard plastered on the wall, that he'd built years ago, back when he was obsessed with the prophecy. There were all sorts of post-its, examining each line word-by-word, trying to figure out the last line. He thought if he'd tried hard enough, he could help the hero of legend. Every little kid thought they could be the hero of legend. But him? He only wanted to help them in any way he could. His greatest ambition was to be the guy in the chair. He chuckled at that. Still, it made him the person he was today. To be the hero was a fleeting dream. But when he pursued his dream of helping the hero in some small way, it felt obtaibable. It encouraged him to keep training, keep getting stronger and smarter, until the day it would finally be even 10% of a hero.

Yeah, he'd dropped that dream years ago. But he kept this board up as a momento to his youth. It helped him become the soccer star he was today. It helped him save Aria when he was needed.

He smiled. He supposed, _maybe,_ he would be willing to feel good about himself right now.

"Hey, Aria?" he called. "I think I'm ready to talk again."

Aria set down the book she'd been reading. So far, she'd found nothing, but it was fascinating to read about all of the different cities in the world. She'd read through 3 so far, currently she was reading an entry of a city run by the three legendary beasts: Entei, Suicune, and Raikou. It seemed some cities had more than one legendary.

She closed the book and walked over to Tris' room. At first, she entered hesitantly, but when she saw the warm smile on his face, she walked in confidently.

"So," Tris said. "I think we should debrief. I promise I won't freak out tell me what, exactly, happened."

"Quick question, first." Aria said. "Do you want the dramatic version of the fight, or the matter-of fact version?"

Tris tilted his head a few times, deep in thought. "What the heck. Let's go with the dramatic."

"It was a dark and stormy night-"

"No, it wasn't." Tris interjected.

Aria sighed loudly. "Fine. It was mildly cloudy and approaching sunset. It all began just after you turned the corner…"

* * *

Aria gave her account of the incident, first. However, she left out the memory. That was a whole can of worms on its own, so she wanted to save it for after they were done talking about all of the other stuff.

Even though Aria gave the story in a light tone, and her body looked fine, Tris couldn't help but ask, "Are you okay?"

"I think so. Though I do have to say I'm kind of surprised at my recovery."

Tris gave her a blank stare. "What do you mean? I've never seen an injury not heal overnight."

Aria stared back. "Even, like, a broken bone?"

"Nothing a good 'ol Oran berry couldn't fix. You can't tell me you don't know that."

Aria thought back. She didn't exactly remember what was supposed to happen, but she knew that felt wrong. She shrugged it off as another side effect of her memory loss. "It's probably nothing. Just sounds a bit off to me, that's all. Glass buildings seemed off at first, too, so it's not that weird or anything."

Tris shrugged. It seemed reasonable to him. "Seriously, though, good job on taking that guy out. I have no idea how it couldn't felt like, trapped in there with that maniac. And here I was, complaining about my problems."

"No, it's fine. At least I beat him in the end, right?" She paused. A look of dread passed by her face. "Please tell me the cops actually got him."

Tris put a hand on Aria's shoulder. "Of course they did. My brother's in the force, I told him about it right away. Apperently, they'd been searching for this guy for awhile."

"Wait. Your brother's a police officer?"

"Yeah. Didn't I say that, earlier? I knew he'd listen if I went to the station."

"You really need to start telling me these things!"

Tris shrugged. "I thought it was pretty obvious."

"Ground rule. I know basically nothing. Even more than usual in this case. Even if I hadn't lost my memory, how could someone off the street know you have a police officer in the family?"

Tris shrugged it off. "Anyways, I'm glad you made it out of there okay. I wonder if you had combat training before you lost your memory? It would explain how you were suddenly able to beat that thing."

Aria thought back to her vision. "That kind of relates to one more thing I wanted to bring up. Maybe you should go over what you saw before I say that, though."

Tris gave her a strange look, but didn't push her. He explained everything that had happened during his half of the adventure. He left out the part about his instincts acting up, mainly because he didn't know how to describe it.

"After I got home, my brother took care of the business end, capturing the perp and everything. He was already gone by the time I woke up this morning, so I don't know anything that happened beyond what I told you. Just what my bro told me, that they caught him."

"Thanks," Aria said immediately. "For saving my life, I mean."

"Don't mention it." Tris said. "Anyone else would have done the same."

"Do other people carry around a pouch filled with Oran berries?"

Tris stared for a few seconds. "No," he said. "I really think they should, but no." Maybe I should campaign around school or something…"

Aria gave him a strange look. "Anyways, I'm glad you were the one I met when I got here." Aria hesitated. "Wait, not only for that reason, though. You're also really nice, and supportive, and willing to help me when I have nowhere to go, and-"

"Yeah, I get it," Tris deadpanned. "I'm super great."

"Well, you are," Aria pouted. "I'm still not over how you put yourself down, by the way. You save my life and then apologize for… what, exactly? Not saving my life… more? Who does that!?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" He paused. "Wait, would apologizing be appropriate here?"

Aria ignored the second part. "Well, I accept your apology."

"Anyways," he said, desparate to change the subject. "There was one more thing I wanted to bring up."

"What is it?"

Tris wanted to talk about his instinct… thing, but he didn't know how to talk about it. He swallowed his pride. He supposed the best way was to just say it, and accept the weird looks.

"Well… have I told you how much I rely on my instincts, before?"

"I don't think so."

"Well, Oftentimes, I do things on instinct. Like, I have a 6th sense that I can't control. No… more like I have 5 senses, and my subconscious notices something that I don't, and it feels like a 6th sense. Does that make sense? Pardon the pun."

Aria nodded. "Yeah, that makes sense."

Tris continued, a bit surprised she got it so fast. "Well, normally, I rely on that. Sometimes, it leads me wrong. My instincts told me to run away from you when you were about to go off, for example. Because they wanted me to get out of danger? No offense."

Aria sighed. "I was better before you said the "No offense" part."

"Well, when I reached the station, I felt something different. My senses told me something I couldn't have possibly known. They told me you were in danger, and your condition was critical. I'll be honest: if I didn't get that message, you would be dead. I still don't know how it happened."

The words echoed in her head again. _I'm the chosen one._ She looked up at Tris' board with the pinned prochecy. One of Tris' post-it's said, _Two pokemon=Strength of God._

"Something weird happened to me, too," Aria said slowly. "I don't know if it's related, but I got a vision. Probably around the same time your instincts went off."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw myself. I was in some sort of void, I guess? And I was fighting a Haunter. Except… I don't think it was the Haunter I just fought? There was a figure next to it. I said something, and the vision ended."

Tris stared at her. "That's… that's amazing! You got a memory back! We need a way to replicate this!"

Aria wasn't so sure it was a memory. Because in the vision, she was still a Kirlia. And she knew that she wasn't one before a day ago or so.

"And you said you thought that was related to my instincts acting up?" Tris said, interrupting her train of thought.

Aria gave a weak, yet sly smile. "I guess the connection isn't too obvious, is it? I guess you could call it an instinct of my own."

Tris nodded at that. He took instincts very seriously.

Aria looked at the prophecy again. She still hadn't told him about the most important part of the vision. Her, stating she was a hero. No, _the_ hero.

"Tris, I-"

Suddenly, the two of them heard a knock on the door. Tris looked up with a start. "That's my big bro!" He just about flew out of the room to grab the door.

Aria was frustrated that she was cut off, but shrugged it off. She'd have another opportunity to bring it up, she knew. She wandered into the living room, just to see the pokemon enter.

She wasn't entirely surprised to see not a Roselia, but a fully grown-up Roserade. His figure was imposing, at what felt like twice Aria's own size. His left flower was blue like Tris', but his right was black. He had his white hair up in a bun, and a golden mask over his eyes. Otherwise, his body was all green. Aria couldn't help but feel coolness ebbing from his figure.

His face was a bit tired, bit it lit up when he saw Aria. He ran past Tris, maneuvering around the furniture, and stuck a flower out towards Aria. "So you're the amnesiac, huh? Nice to meet you," he said.

Right up in Aria's face, Aria felt a little nervous. She'd seen pokemon of all shapes and sizes on the streets, but this one was right in her face. He felt like he was twice the size of her, which was probably accurate. After dealing with Tris for so long, and at least having a desk between them and the librarian, she'd gotten used to this size of things. But this Roserade was imposing. She shrunk a little, but shook his hand nonetheless.

"She has a name besides "The amnesiac," you know," Tris interjected.

"It's fine," Aria said quickly. "It's Aria, by the way. And thanks for capturing that Haunter, Tris' brother."

"It's Temp. And don't mention it, Aria. Just doing my job." He glanced at Tris. "I told you she'd be fine."

Tris scowled. "Oh, don't you 'I told you so' me. You sure seemed pretty worried when I rushed into the house carrying a barely conscious pokemon."

"Oh!" Temp said. "I should have asked this so much sooner. Aria, are you okay? I know you must have taken quite a beating last night."

"I'm fine," Aria said quickly.

"Fine as in, "I'll manage," or fine as in, "I'm feeling pretty good?""

"T-the second one."

He laughed. His laugh was hearty and deep. Aria shrunk a little more, but he didn't notice. "Good to hear it. You must have been very brave to have gone toe-to-toe with this guy, huh?"

Tris wasn't always the best at noticing body language. But when he glanced at Aria, he finally noticed her demeanor. "Hey, is something wrong?" he said.

"No, it's just…" Aria began. Then, she stopped herself. How could she explain this to Tris? She felt scared of his brother? She didn't expect it to be this scary. When Tris mentioned he had a brother first, he said that he'd…

Aria suddenly snorted. She finally looked Temp in the eye, nervousness melting away for a moment. "Wait a minute. You're the one who checked out _The Adventures of Captain Slowpoke?"_

"Hey!" Temp said. "It's not what it sounds like. Those books go over a surprisingly mature subject matter. You just have to look past the title."

"So you admit it!" Tris said. "Last night, you said you didn't check it out at all!"

Temp rubbed his forehead. "Listen, we can talk about that later. I came here because I wanted to talk with Aria."

"Don't try to evade the question!" Tris said.

"Is this about me staying at your house uninvited?" Aria said.

"What?" Temp said. "Do you expect me to turn you away? Don't worry about it, it'll be nice to have the company."

Finally, Aria relaxed further. Temp didn't mean her any ill will at all.

Temp spoke up again. "No, I wanted to talk to you about what, exactly, happened with you and that Haunter."

"You mean Siren?"

Temp quickly grabbed a notepad from his belt. "I suppose so, if that was his name. We didn't know that up until now; it's been knocked out for the past 12 hours. He's been implicated in dozens of disappearances, but we've never had the evidence to catch the guy."

"He's been out for how long!?" Tris said.

Aria didn't know the severity of the timing, personally. But if Tris was surprised, she knew it was a long time.

"Yeah, it was hurt, bad. That's why I want to hear your side of the story."

"I'm not gonna get in trouble for this, am I?"

Temp shrugged. "It depends on what happened."

Aria shrunk a little.

Tris noticed it right away, this time. He quickly stepped forwards, between Aria and Temp. He looked to Aria. "You're not going to get in trouble, I promise." Tris said. "It was self-defense." He turned to Temp. "I can explain what happened, Aria told me everything."

"No," Aria said. "I can do it." She felt better around Temp, now. At the very least, she wanted to be able to talk with him normally.

He gave her a glance, a sort of _Are you sure?_

Aria gave a glance back, as if to say, _Of course I'm sure._

Tris nodded and stepped to the side.

Temp blinked a few times. "So? Are you going to tell me what happened or not, Aria?"

"Right," she said. "You might want to sit down, it's a long story." She sat down on the couch, followed by Temp. "It was a dark and-"

"Cut it out, Aria." Tris said.

"You never let me tell stories my way."

* * *

Once again, Aria told the story, leaving out the flashback completely this time. It wouldn't be important for the police report, she told herself.

"…Wow," Temp said. "Whenever you evolve, put that on your resume, we could use someone like you on the force."

Aria blushed. "T-thank you."

"Yeah, definitely self-defense. That guy was definitely responsible for some of the other missing children in the area, too. Seriously, you might have only been thinking of your own survival back there, but you were really a hero."

Aria's blush deepened.

Tris butted in. "Hey, where's my medal? I saved her life!"

Temp's smile faded. "Right, I almost forgot to mention it. You're the one who destroyed the roads, aren't you?"

"W-what?" Tris said.

"Yeah. I had reports of a green figure tearing away the roads into a cry for help, and running away."

"Yeah. I was calling for help! People followed the trail and captured the haunter, didn't they?"

"You caused thousands in property damage."

Tris stared for a few seconds. "On second thought, that wasn't me at all."

Temp sighed. "But, I suppose that it worked. The police followed the trail and found the Haunter, even before I got there. Despite the property damage, it was admittedly a good solution. I applaud you on your quick thinking. I won't tell them it was you."

Tris ran up and hugged his brother. "Thank you so much!"

"Hey! Quit it with the touchy-feely, you have some thorns growing in."

"Sorry," Tris said. He quickly released Temp, who picked a few thorns from his body.

"Anyways," Temp said, "I'm going to need to get going. Do you have any plans for the day I should know about?"

"Not that I know of," Tris said. "I guess we were going to go through some books to see if we could figure out anything about Aria's memory." He glanced at Aria , who shrugged.

"Hmm…" Temp said. He scowled. "I suppose you must have checked by now. What did Madam Memory say, again?"

"Who now?" Tris said.

"Madam Memory. You know, the psychic right down the street? I used to complain about her all the time. Specializing in memory psyonics?"

"What?"

Temp sighed. "Seriously, sometimes I'm not sure if there's a head on your shoulders. You've passed by the place a thousand times. You seriously haven't even checked with a psychic yet about getting Aria's memory fixed? Why wasn't that the first thing you did when you found her?"

Tris blinked a few times. "That's a thing? A place where people can get their memories returned?" A smile worked it's way onto his face. "Aria!" he said. "There are psychics who can get your memory back! And one's just a few blocks away!

Aria grinned widely. All this time, and the key to her memory was just around the corner? She could hardly believe it. She didn't know how to show her gratitude. "Thank you so much, Temp! I promise I'll repay you for it sometime!" The two of them bolted towards the door. "I'm gonna get my memory back!" Aria squeeled.

"Wait!" Temp yelled. "You guys think this is going to be free or something?"

The two of them hesitated at the door.

"Here," Temp said, throwing a sack of gold coins towards them. "That should cover it, easy. Just make sure to get me the change, okay?"

The pair nodded and rushed out of the room. They left the room and entered a main hallway, surrounded by 2 more apartments, and an elevator going upwards. The two of them approached the door to the actual outside world.

Before they went through the door, Tris stopped, though. Aria noticed and stopped as well. "Hey, do you want to talk about earlier, with Temp? I don't mean to pry, but you seemed uncomfortable back there. If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine."

Aria thought back to the bright, cheerful person they'd just met. She felt a little embarrassed for being scared, really. She smiled. "It was nothing."

"Really?" Tris said.

"Yeah, I'm sure," Aria said. Tris noted the lack of sarcasm. Her smile widened. "Now, c'mon, let's go, you slowpoke! I'm about to get my memories back!" At that, Aria ran out the door.

"Hey, wait for me! I'm the only one who knows where we actually need to go!" Tris ran after her, leaving the cramped apartment and into the light of the new day.

* * *

 _A/N: Long chapter, huh? I considered splitting it, but there really wasn't anywhere natural to split it other than, like, 1000 words in. So, enjoy a long chapter. Sorry it took awhile, I'm sure the length explains why it took so long to release._

 _About the setting exposition dump. I tried to make it entertaining, but I'm sorry if it was a bit bloated. Setting description's never been my strong suit, but I think we'll be spending a lot of time in this house, so I wanted to set the scene. I have Aphantasia, the inability to form mental images, so it's sometimes hard for me to describe a setting. I never really care about the specific flowery setting details when I'm reading, so I sometimes find it hard to write in turn. If you just skimmed it, that's fine._

 _I wasn't sure about the healing injuries overnight thing, but I thought it could be interesting to base it off of the actual game mechanics. Pokemons' bodies are fundamentally different from our own. They can heal incredibly quickly with the use of some seeds and berries, and even a broken bone heals overnight. Also, they almost never bleed. I might have to include some cavoites down the line so stakes remain, but for now, I think it'll be fun to write._

 _Another thing: I like the idea of a slightly customized final evolution. For the first few forms, a pokemon is still growing. But in this world, I like the idea of having a little personal spin to any given final evolution. It also means that when I describe the MCs evolving, I won't be just describing something you could easily look up a picture of. Temp, for instance, has a few differences from the stock Roserade. I just feel that'll put a little variety in character designs later down the line._

 _And another thing! Lots of specific items of note in this chapter, I suppose. Heights! I know that canonically, A roserade is only about 3 feet tall. But honestly? C'mon, look at that picture and tell me that looks about as tall as a Kirlia. And Roseila is a foot tall, because of course it is. So I'm calling nope on that. In my universe, Roselia and Kirlia are about the same height, and their evolutions are, too. So, there._

 _With all that out of the way, I'll be quick in my reminder for you to favorite, follow, and especially review the story._

 _Next time: We meet a memory specialist. It'd be kinda weird if we didn't after that buildup, I suppose. Anyways, see ya then!_


	6. Madam Memory

Madam Memory

* * *

Aria and Tris stopped in front of yet another spire of glass. However, this one looked a little different from all the rest. While the surface was the same flawless glass as everything else, there were neon signs plastered all over the front, in bright clashing neon lights and all caps. It was a little difficult to read, with all the clashing colors everywhere. However, if you could decipher them, you'd see their messages. Things like:

 _MADAM MEMORY. YOU'VE LOST 'EM? SHE'LL FIND 'EM._

and

 _USED AMNESIA ONE TOO MANY TIMES? MADAM MEMORY'S GOT YOU COVERED._

"It's been like this so long, I suppose I never bothered to read the signs, just watch the spectacle," Tris said.

"The spectacle?" Aria asked.

"There's a rule in Melloetta city, that nobody post anything on the sides of the glass parts of the buildings, so to keep them clear. In the main streets, where there's at least a few floors of stone at the bottom, it's allowed. That's how the city's built: the spires get taller as you get to the center. But in order to keep the bigger spires up, the spires need the have a bit of concrete at the bottom. Anyways, here in the suburbs, where it's glass from bottom to top, they don't want people clouding the windows up with advertising. Every day, the cops would come to take them down, and the next day new ones would be right back up again. Well, Temp would come, anyways. He seemed to have a pretty big bone to pick with her. After a year, he stopped. Gave up, I guess. So, this marks one of the few places in the city where you can find a glass spire with this kinda stuff on it. She seems pretty stubborn, considering I walked by these ads hundreds of times and never bothered to read them."

"Hey, why didn't Temp arrest the medium? Or at least give her a fine?"

Tris shrugged. "I dunno, maybe they did get fined. I just saw my brother get more and more frustrated as the signs went up and down."

"Huh," Aria said. On one hand, she thought that no signs on the sides of the buildings was a harsh, but on the other, these signs stood as a pretty good reason to keep the windows clear.

Tris stepped closer to the signs. He scanned the signs for about 45 seconds, then picked one out. "Says she's on the ninth floor, room 902. Sheesh, you'd think that, with all the marketing, you'd be able to find it so much easier."

Aria smiled at the humor, and kept smiling, knowing she was getting answers. The pair entered the building. It was the same on the inside as Tris' apartment; Glass walls everywhere, a few rooms scattered throughout the hallway, and a single elevator.

The two of them walked through the room, into the elevator.

The elevator lurched for a moment, then began its ascent. Kirlia watched as they rose and pressed against the glass, a flawless window to the outside world. As they rose, for a while, it was the same Meloetta city she was used to, just a little closer to the top. However, as they rose, they grew higher than some of the lower buildings. Through the gaps, she could see the edge of the city. It was strange; from one gap, she could see a natural green, yet through another, there was a blanket of snow. The elevator stopped, but Aria kept craning her neck to see if she could see anything else through the gaps.

"C'mon, Aria," Tris said "We don't want to keep anyone else who might want to use the elevator waiting, do we?"

Aria tore her view from the horizon. "Right," she said. She rushed out of the elevator. Right, it was time to be excited! She was gonna get her memory back!

Tris walked over to the door labelled 902. It was pretty easy to pick out, having the same garish neon plastered all over it.

Tris knocked on the door a few times, then waited. Through the hall, a voice boomed. "Enter." The door opened of its own accord.

Aria jumped. Tris rolled his eyes.

The pair entered the building. Despite what the exterior might have suggested, the room itself wasn't the same neon all the way through. It had what you might expect for a mystical medium: curtains covering the windows, and a dim candlelight keeping the place lit. In the center of the room was a single crystal ball. Aria thought the candle was fairly inefficient, for a place normally so well-suited for use of natural light.

"Hello?" Tris called. "Madam memory?" He put his hand over his head. "Man, that name's dumb," he muttered.

…No answer.

Tris tried again. "Are you there? My friend wants use of your services!"

After a few more moments of waiting, a pair of yellow eyes illuminated in front of Tris. Despite his normal disposition, he jumped. "Why, you're not Temp," said an elegant feminine voice.

Around the pair of eyes, a spector emerged. Purple mist formed ill-defined features beneath a flowing gown. There were several red gems planted in its chest, and the whole of its figure was quite ethereal, as if it was only half-there. The bottom of its robe frayed into mist. It was a Mismagius, though admittedly mistier than a normal one.

Tris blinked a few times. "…No, I'm not. Excuse me, are you…?"

"Why yes! I am the master of the unknown reaches of the mind, Madam memory herself!" The Mismagius rose a few feet into the air. "I apologise for my rude introduction, I thought you were that crabby officer for a moment. No matter, let the show begin! Welcome to my lair. The secrets of your mind will lay before me for the world to see!" She did a spectral dance through the air, illuminating the black curtains above them with white lights, as if she was painting the room with stars. She floated to the ground, floating behind the crystal ball. "For your inconvenience, how about this? Your initail reading is free, I insist."

Tris grinned. Well, he certainly wasn't going to bring up his relation to Temp, now. "Thank you, Ms. Memory."

"Please, call me Mel. Now, what seems to be the problem?"

Tris gestured for Aria to speak.

Aria nodded. She was a bit intimidated, seeing as this was the first Ghost type she'd met since the _incident_. Still, she wasn't going to let her nerves get to her. "It's me. I woke up yesterday, no memory at all. I've seen a flash or two… well, I've seen a flash of something. But the rest of my memory's just _gone._ "

"Interesting," Mel said. She gestured to the space just in front of the crystal ball. "Would you sit down, please?"

Aria looked where she pointed. "There isn't a chair there."

"Isn't there?" Mel grinned maniacally.

Aria eased walked to the crystal ball.

"Take a seat," Mel said.

Unsure, Aria lowerer herself down. Sure enough, she felt a chair beneath her. She glanced back, and it was like she was sitting on air.

Tris whistled. "She's got her presentation down, that's for sure."

"Just sit still, love. I'll see what I can dredge anything up. Tell me if you start to feel unusual. Get a headache, nausea, anything of the sort. Or if you start getting your memories back, I suppose. Just step out of the chair, and it'll end immediately."

Aria nodded silently. Now that she was finally here, she felt nervous. What if she didn't get her memories back? No, what if she _did_? What would she find inside of her own mind? Would she find someone kind and considerate? Would she be the same? Would she remember her last 24 hours with Tris?

"Any questions before I begin?" Mel said.

"It won't matter if I think about other things, will it?"

"Of course not, sweetie. Memory is much deeper than surface-level thoughts, any memory expert worth her salt knows that much. I can filter out the noise. Will that be all?"

Aria nodded. However, Tris cut in. "Would you be able to find false memories?"

She turned to face Tris. "Whatever do you mean?"

"Aria had a memory, just after she awoke, we thought might have been faked. She seems pretty confident it's real, but-"

"Oh, it's real," she said simply.

Tris was slightly taken aback. "How can you tell?"

"You can't fake a memory, silly. Far too much sensory information, there. Sight, vision, hearing, touch. What they were thinking at the time. Some vague suggestions, most certainly. Someone could say "Your parents were killed" when they're very much alive and when you woke up with no memory, you just might believe it. But any sort of fully conscious experience? That's just silly."

Tris didn't say another word, just thinking over the ramifications. Aria was just relieved her memory wasn't messed with.

"Anything else?" Memory said.

Aria shook her head.

"Then let's begin."

Mel held up a misty hand to her crystal ball. It began to glow. She stared Aria in the eye, somewhat unsettling her. She expected to feel a sort of psychic prodding, or anything at all, but she felt nothing of the sort.

"Have you started?" Aria asked.

No answer. Mel didn't even acknowledge she'd said anything.

Mel's brow furrowed slightly 15 seconds passed, then 30. Her face grew more and more clouded as time passed. The ball grew brighter and brighter, too, drowning out the dim candle- and starlight. Tris covered his eyes, yet Aria watched it closely, entranced. Still, she felt nothing that seemed like a warning sign. No headache, no memories, nothing.

The Mismagius began breathing heavily. Her breaths grew staggered. She closed her eyes in concentration.

From the bottom, she seemed to start dissolving. The cloak she wore disintegrated into mist, and it kept going up her body. Still, Aria watched, unsure what to do.

As the mist approached Mel's arms, Tris stepped forwards. "This is getting dangerous. Something's clearly going wrong here, I'm going to stop her!"

"No, wait," Aria said. "Just a little while longer."

Tris tapped his foot. "As soon as it reaches her head, I'm stepping in."

The mist crept up Mel's arms. However, they stopped just before they could complete the deed. In the end, just Mel's head, a pair of hands, and a crystal ball remained.

For another amount of time that seemed to last forever, time seemed to stand still. Everyone still breathed, and Mel still rubbed her hands against the ball, but it almost seemed to loop in sync with itself.

And finally, the loop broke. The light melted away in an instant, and Mel's body reappeared in a flash. "Well," she said, breaking the tension, "I've got… news."

The pair blinked a few times as their eyes adjusted to the darkness. "What do you mean, news?" Tris said. "Wait, scratch that. Would you mind explaining what that was all about? All the lights and your body disintegrating into dust? What was going on?

She shifted in place nervously. "You see, about that. That's the form I take when I take a deeper dive into someone's subconscious, beyond the surface level."

The pair gave blank stares.

She tilted her head to the side. "How do I explain this? What I was initially doing was a surface reading. It's supposed to be so I can tell what the problem is, and give options to fix it. Normally, then, I'd come out and tell you what I found. Before I went in again, I would've explained the whole "disappearing body" thing to you. Obviously, it didn't work that way."

Aria furrowed her brow. "Then what happened in there? What did you do to my head?"

"I didn't do anything! I was just looking. I just had to look a little deeper than I normally would."

Tris sighed. "I suppose I'll ask the obvious question. Why did you go deeper?"

"That's a complicated question. In order to answer it, I need to go over what a surface reading would normally accomplish. Generally, it establishes the category of a lost memory case. There are a few general reasons for a locked-away memory. First, a simple bonk on the head, physically engaged amnesia. Easy fix, I could tell if that was the case from surface level. Second, it could be overuse of amnesia, the move. Much more difficult to solve, but easy to detect from a surface level once again. Third, it could be induced by a third party. That's the rarest example, and the most… difficult. Difficult to describe, to detect, to solve, and so on. Sometimes, it's easy to detect from the surface, but sometimes that just won't cut it."

"So, I'm the third one, then?" Aria was pretty sure she could see where this was going.

"Well," Mel said, "It's possible. There are two subcategories of category 3: Common and Crafted. Common mental attacks are the stuff you buy from the store, the stuff you could get from a TM. Those can range from easy to break to nearly unsolvable. But again, they're easy to detect. Crafted is where it all becomes so difficult. The problem is that no two attacks will ever be the same. It's incredibly rare, but sometimes it happens that a pokemon will craft a move to suit their desires. For example, if you want a circle of fire, you could take a traditional fire tornado. But that move's fairly weak. You want a _real_ fire tornado, you make it yourself. Through rigorous training, you can make your own move. And if anyone were to do that with a spell involving memory, well, you can make someone's mind like a lockbox loaded to the brim with traps."

Aria grew nervous. "You mean my amnesia was inflicted by someone else?"

"I'm not sure," Mel said. "There's almost always a signature from whoever makes such a specialized spell. May it be intentional or otherwise. But I had a hard time distinguishing it from the rest of the magic in your mind. Even your own magic should leave a distinctive signature, different from the rest just floating around your mind palace. Whoever did this was a master of their craft."

Aria stared. "Do you mean I was attacked? Attacked by some psychic genius?"

"Don't jump to so many conclusions. I don't know what happened to you, I'm just telling it like it is. Now, may I finish?"

"Sorry," Aria said.

"I'll take that as a yes. Now, after I got that far, and barely found anything at all, I couldn't help but dive deeper. Normally, I'd warn you ahead of time, but I suppose my curiosity got the better of me. Thanks for being so patient with me. As I dove deeper, I found your problem."

"What did you find!?" Aria blurted.

"I… I'm not sure, exactly."

"What do you mean?" Aria said.

Mel hesitated. "I found a subtle blockage. No… something like a blanket. No… I'm not sure what it was. I found whatever it was blocking your memories, but I can't describe it. I barely know what it is, myself. Without any further testing, it's hard for me to figure out what-"

Aria cut her off. "What are you waiting for!? Go in again! Do some testing! Figure out what's going on! We'll pay whatever you want, if it's money you're after."

Mel paused for a few moments. "No, don't worry about payment. You can pay me once I solve your problem." She looked at Aria. "I'll try my best not to hurt you. I might have to use a few moves. If you ever feel anything begin to change, get out of that chair and it'll end the connection immediately, just as it was before."

Aria nodded. In that moment, she didn't care how bad her predicament was. She just wanted to know what was going on.

For around 15 minutes, Mel closed her eyes and rubbed the ball, just a head and 2 disembodied hands. The whole time, Aria felt nothing. Finally, she exited, her body returning to her original form.

"So?" Aria said. "Did you figure out what's going on?"

Mel took a deep breath. "Yeah."

Aria's eyes widened. "Really? What's going on, then?"

Mel gulped. She spoke slowly. "I… I've dealt with a certain pokemon, before. Her memory was erased by Darkrai itself. It took me several months, but I unlocked her memory. Your memory is like that level of erasure, but it's fighting me back."

Aria slumped a little. She'd been expecting this, but it still hurt. "So, you're saying it might take a few months for you to get my memory back?"

Mel took another long, deep breath. "You don't understand. Listen, can I be real with you for a moment? I might seem young and quirky and whatever, posting up bright neon signs and playing up my showmanship, but the truth is, I've been around a long time. If you know what you're doing, a ghost type can never really die. And in all of my years of dealing with pokemon with lost memories, I've never seen anything like this. You want to know what it seems most like to me? It's like not only a well-constructed move from a legendary pokemon. I compared a mental block to a lockbox earlier, yeah? Darkrai's was more like a puzzle box, with a thousand steps. This? It's like a lockbox that fights back. Where every single minute, the solution changes. As in, it's like there's a legendary somewhere actively fighting back against my advances. To put it bluntly, I might have been around for a long time, but I'm no match for a legendary. I'm sorry."

Aria stared for a few seconds. "Is there… anything you can do?"

Mismagius floated back and forth nervously. "I'm sorry."

Aria looked at the ground. Her eyes began to tear up. "Well, thanks anyways." She got up from her invisible chair and walked out of the room.

Without a word, Tris followed.

When the door shut, Tris turned to Aria. "Some quack, huh?"

Aria glanced up at him. "H-huh?"

"Doesn't have a clue what she's talking about. She says there's nothing she can do for you, right? Well, she's wrong!"

"H-how can you be so sure that?"

Tris scoffed. "What do you mean by that? You've already gotten one of your memories back, haven't you? The one where you were defending someone from a Haunter or whatever? Well, was that memory lost forever, then?"

Aria looked at him through teary eyes. "I don't even know if that was a memory."

Tris shook his head. "You know what, Aria? Follow me."

He walked over to the elevator.

Unsure, Aria followed, close behind.

Tris pressed the button for the top floor of the building. As it rose, Tris stayed silent.

The view opened up further than it had as they rose, earlier. In the distance, the buildings dropped away. Aria could finally see the outside world.

It was… strange, to say the least. It was a massive torrent of different terrains. As she looked into the distance, mountains rose and fell. Deserts shared borders with areas shrowded in snowstorms. A forest faded from pink cherry blossoms to a lush green, to autumn leaves. It was mesmorizing.

Finally, Tris spoke up. "Look out there. Look into the great, wide world. You're telling me that in all that, there's nothing that will get your memory back? No strange artifact, hidden somewhere? Some strange, eccentric master willing to help in exchange for an equally obscure task? No equally cliched end? And turn around, too."

He lead Aria out of the elevator, into yet another glass hallway.

"Look out there, into the city. Look at the thousands of monolithic glass skyscrapers. You're telling me that there's nobody out there that can help? You're telling me that there's nothing that will spark more memories out of you? This is just one tiny speck on top of another speck sitting on this great wide world we live on. And I'm willing to bet you that somewhere, there's something or someone that'll get your memories back."

Aria stared into the glass city. She was only just beginning to appreciate the scale of this place. When Tris said thousands of glass spires, he wasn't kidding. Compared to the one they were in, she saw ones that went at least twice as high.

"Don't fret, Aria. We're definitely going to get your memories back."

Aria kept looking out into the city. She smiled. "Yeah, you're right. That Mismagius didn't have a clue."

Tris hit her lightly. "There ya go!"

Aria took a quick, deep breath. "Well, what are we waiting for? We had a plan already before this, right? Let's get reading those books. I bet there's those crystal spires in there, somewhere!"

Tris smiled and nodded. The two of them walked towards the elevator.

As they descended, Aria watched as the outside was eaten up by glass spires once again.

Then, the elevator stopped, before they reached the bottom. Aria glanced to the door as it opened. Another pokemon was just outside, entering the elevator. Its coat was a dull grey, while its eyes were a deep red. White spikes protruded from its shoulders and head, with a ring attached to it's head-spike. More spikes stuck out of its hands like claws. It floated above them, a towering presence. A hulking Metang. Aria reflexively hid behind Tris.

Tris, himself, had never seen a Metang before. At least, not up close like this. But it was surprisingly menacing. He could see why Aria would have been scared to wake up to the sight of this pokemon. Still, he knew it didn't mean them harm or anything. "Hey," he said.

The Metang glanced down. It's eyes met with Aria's, and she winced. It rolled it's eyes. "Hey," it said. It sat in silence for a few moments. "You know, elevator rides are awkward enough. I'd appreciate if you didn't make it even more so." Even though it's mouth didn't open, it's voice sounded like that of any other pokemon.

After a few moments, Aria looked up. "You… you're not speaking like a robot?"

The Metang blinked several times. "What? Why would I speak like a robot? People have the weirdest stereotypes sometimes."

Aria looked away, clearly awkward. Why did she think the Metang would speak like a robot, anyways?

Tris tapped his foot, waiting for the elevator to reach the bottom. The silence was palpable. He glanced over and looked at the ring on the Metang's head. "Hey, you must be a part of the PCL!" Tris said.

In the Pokken Champion's league, all competitors were outfitted with rings that nullified certain moves such that type effectiveness was no longer a factor.

"Huh?" it said, previously distracted. "Oh, yeah, the ring. You must be a fan if you're able to tell." The Metang looked Tris down, noting his physique, honed from hundreds of hours of work. "You compete at all?"

"Nah," Tris said. "I've considered it, but I'm always so busy with soccer, myself."

"Aw, that's no excuse. Even if you don't make it far, it's always nice to try."

The elevator doors opened, and Tris and the Metang exited together. Aria hung behind the pair. "Seriously, dude," the Metang said. "Give it a try. It's not too late to sign up. How old are you, anyways?"

"I'm 16."

"Well, if you screw it up this year, you still have another year to go before you really gotta get serious, right?"

"I dunno. I don't have a partner."

"Why don't the two of you sign up? Even if you don't qualify, what's stopping ya for giving it a try? Qualifiers are next week, you know!"

"Oh, Aria? I don't know if we should…" Tris trailed off.

"Then I'm sure I could find you a partner."

"Cut me some slack. I've been super busy lately."

Baylea let out an exhasperated sigh. "Fine, don't sign up. But don't come crying to me once you have to wait another year to try it again."

"Sure," Tris said.

"Hey, what's your name, anyways?" the Metang said.

"It's Tris."

"I'm Baylea. I hope to see you at the tryouts!" It waved his metal claw and hovered out the door. It pointed his claws backwards, and like they were a pair of thrusters, it boosted away.

"Hey, Tris?" Aria said.

"Yeah?"

"What's the… PCL?"

Tris sighed long and hard. "It's the biggest sport on the planet! How could you not remember it?" he sighed again. "Okay, it's basically a structured series of fights. There's a 1v1 bracket and a 2v2 bracket. The 2v2 plays over the summer season, while the 1v1 plays over the winter. The 2v2's about to start. Thomas and Karen were training with me for that. There are two main brackets, those for people under 18 and the one 18 and up. Obviously, the second one's a lot harder to get into. But we're… Actually, how old are you?"

A number came to mind in an instant. "Sixteen," she said. It didn't really bother her that she knew her age, though. She knew her name, her age must just have been something she never forgot.

"Yeah, we could make it into the 2v2 bracket. Hypothetically, anyways. Anyways, people wear special fings to combat type effectiveness. It's all skill-based. Whoever takes out the opponents first, wins. Some psychics broadcast the final tournaments in a HUGE stadium all across the globe. When that's on, all the big stages get taken over by a special type of psychic, who uses their abilities to broadcast the show onto a screen.. Both the major and minor leagues are big, and the sport's always evolving, with people bringing new and interesting moves and strategies each year."

"Huh," Aria said simply. It sounded interesting, but without seeing it herself, it was difficult to imagine.

"Tell you what," Tris said. "I'll take you to one of the shows here in Meloetta when they start."

"Yeah," Aria said. The conversation trailed away.

For some reason, Aria thought she was forgetting something, though. Something itched at the back of her mind.

She looked over towards the door. Baylea was long gone. And suddenly, it hit her. She knew what she was missing.

Aria stood in silence for a few moments. Then, she ran out of the building, full sprint. She looked around the outside, desperate to find the Metang. But it was nowhere in sight.

Tris ran to follow her.

"Dammit," she muttered. "Where could it have gone?"

"Who?" Tris said.

"The Metang! Baylea!"

Tris looked around. "I dunno, it's long gone. Why do you need to find it?"

"I think it might hold a key to my memories."

Tris's eyes widened for a moment. Then, he began pacing. "Where could he have gone? There's no way we could directly follow him. I guess we could wait here and hope he returns…"

"We don't have time for this. Pick a direction," Aria said.

"What?"

"You said your instincts are good? Pick a direction, we'll go there."

Tris gave a half-chuckle. "It doesn't work that way."

"Humor me."

Tris looked around. "I dunno," he said. "Um…"

Aria grabbed his hand. "Don't think. Just tell me."

"Left," Tris said.

"Let's go, then!"

Aria took off, Tris in tow. They reached a crosswalk and Aria stopped. "Which way?"

"Aria, this is crazy."

"Which way!" she yelled.

"Fine, straight."

They continued for several blocks, weaving between buildings and cutting through alleyways. Finally, Tris said, "Stop." They trailed to a stop.

"Please, Aria. This is crazy. And I'm pretty sure we're just lost. I'm not magic. Heck, I'm not even a psychic. Just because I have decent instincts doesn't mean I could do the impossible." He leaned against a fence pole, tired. "Is this a memory loss thing, or…" he trailed off as he looked over and saw Aria's grinning face.

"Well, it worked. Look." She pointed towards the building.

On it's side, there was a sign. "Pokken's champion training."

Tris took a step back. "N-no. That's impossible."

"Wanna take a look?" Aria said smugly.

Tris slowly wandered inside. Sure enough, he saw Baylea and a Zweilous training together.

Tris, this time, remembered his board. He almost felt the prophecy course through him. This would be impossible for any normal pokemon. But what if he wasn't normal? But he pushed it aside. There must have been some sort of rational explanation for all of this. He must have seen the directing Baylea went. Yeah, and since he flew, he would obviously have taken the path of least resistance. He must have known this facility was here and went on instinct. That made sense, right?

Baylea noticed Tris, standing there and looking dumbfounded. It lit up and flew over. "Hey, there. You changed your mind already?"

"Um-"

Aria barged in. "Could you do something for me, please?"

Baylea turned around and looked at her. "Oh, you're here, too," it said, with an unmistakable annoyance in his voice. "Do you want to train, too, or…?"

"Please, would you speak like a robot on purpose?"

"…What? Why?"

"Humor me. Please."

Baylea rolled it's eyes. "Do you want me to say anything in particular?"

"Say this: "I don't know. You just appeared.""

"What is up with this girl?" it muttered. It altered its voice. "I AM A ROBOT. I DON'T KNOW. YOU JUST APPEARED."

"Okay, now say it without the purposeful robot voice."

It sighed. "This is the last one, okay? "I don't know, you just appeared." Happy?"

"Yeah!" Aria said. "Thank you so much!"

He was about to go away, then he floated back. "Okay, now I'm curious. Why did you want me to do that?"

Aria clammed up. "Um…" she glanced over at Tris.

"What?" Tris said. "I don't even know why you wanted him to say that, what would I know?"

"Just a moment," Aria said. She pulled Tris aside. Baylea stared as they muttered to one another, and Tris' eyes grew wide. Tris paced pack and forth a few times, then nodded and said something to Aria.

Tris approached Baylea. "Sorry about her. It was a theater thing, she wanted to see how a line would best work."

The Metang relaxed. From Tris' reactions, it sounded like she was a user of the dark arts or something. It was reassuring to know it was such a plain reason. "Well, why didn't she just say so?"

"As you may have noticed, she's pretty shy."

He shrugged. "Fair, I suppose. So, you two want to train, or what?"

Tris shifted his weight. "I think we'll just watch for now."

Baylea slumped slightly. "Getting cold feet? C'mon…"

"Don't pressure me."

"Fine, fine." Baylea drifted back towards his partner.

Tris turned back to Aria. "So, I got him off our trail. Run it by me again, why did you talk to the Metang?"

Aria took a deep breath. "I was thinking about my memory, how the first pokemon I saw was a Metang. When it spoke, it's voice was monotone. Almost like a robot. I guess I assumed that all of them would be like that, considering the looks. But this one was different, right? When it spoke, it was like any other pokemon. So, I tested it. I wondered what Baylea would sound like if it said something the other mystery Metang said. When it tried to sound like a robot, it wasn't quite right."

"Right, I'm with you so far. But why do you think-"

"I'm getting there. You see, when I asked him to say it normally, I just wanted to confirm my suspicions, that it wouldn't sound right when he spoke normally, too. But the second time he spoke, like "normal," he sounded exactly like the one in my memory."

Tris cocked his head. "What the heck does that mean?"

"The last time he said it, it wasn't robotic, or anything like that. But it was still monotone. He was practically reading off of a script, just the line I told him to. He didn't believe the words he was saying. And neither did the Metang in my memory. He was making it all up."

Tris nodded slowly. "Do you know what this means?" he said.

"Of course I do!" I'm the one who made the deduction in the first place!

"If you're right, that would mean he… Emir, was it? The Metang in your memory was acting. The words it said were just a scripted conversation. Pretending like this was something abnormal, when… what, exactly? Was he the one behind the whole thing? Was he just in on it? I don't get it." He paced back and forth a few times. "Tell me again what he said, exactly."

Aria thought back. The memory was ingrained into her skull, she could remember it easily. "First, he said, "Are y-… are you Aria?" I asked what was going on, and he said, "I don't know. You just appeared." I ran, and he yelled, "Wait!" I ran for a bit. He caught up to me eventually, saying "Stop! It's me, Emir." Now that I think of it, that line had much more emotion than everything else. And then I ran away again. That's all he said."

Tris paced for a bit longer, then he froze. "Repeat the first part again." He said slowly.

"Um… he said, "Are you okay?"

"No, before that."

"What do you mean? He stumbled over his words a bit."

"He said "Are y- are you okay," right? And you thought that the first part was just the first part of are you okay, right?"

"…Right?"

"How do I explain this? What if he wasn't just stuttering over his words?"

Aria cocked her head. "How so?"

"All this time, we've been assuming that he stuttered for a moment, surprised at your appearance. Or maybe stuttered over his lines. But what if that wasn't the case? What if the second part was trying to cover for something?"

Aria stared.

"He wasn't saying "A – R – E – space - Y-" He was saying "A – R – I-" And then he covered it up by saying the next part instead."

"I don't get it."

"Your name. He was about to say your name, then caught himself. He said "Ari," and stopped himself before he could say "Aria." _He knew exactly who you were._

Aria stared at him for a few moments. She slowly covered her mouth. "Oh my god."

"Think about it. Listen when I say "Are y- Are you okay?" It sounds awkward, doesn't it? Not if it was just a cover-up. He said "Aria" and course corrected."

"Yeah," Aria said. "You don't need to convince me any further." She took a deep breath. "So what do we do, now?

"We do just as we planned: find the city," Tris said. "The moment we find that city, we find that Metang. We find the person who just might be able to help you. Come on!" Tris raced out of the building, and Aria stuck close behind. "I know that once we find that city, we'll find your memory again. I promise."

They ran towards Tris' house, and, they hoped, towards some answers.

* * *

 _A/N: Took me a long time to release this, huh? Sorry, stuff happened in life. I won't bog you down with the details. But anyways, it's out, now! I'll try to make sure the wait on the next one is, at the very least, a little bit shorter._

 _Lot's of plot and exposition! I wanted this to have a lot of reveals in it, hope I didn't go overboard! Hard to go over everything in detail, but I included a lot of stuff in here. The fact that complete memories can't be fabricated, the mechanics behind memories, which, of course, I'll use in the future. What, exactly, is going on behind Aria's memory, at least in vague detail. And finally, the reveal at the end. Thoughts?_

 _I hope the middle wasn't too bloated. The story's memory-based, so I needed a solid foundation. The best way to do that was very in-depth explanations on memory. I'll try to be sure the exposition isn't too bad moving forwards._

 _Remember to fave, follow, review, and etcetera. I haven't updated this in a while, so there'd better be a new audience just waiting to read this story!_

 _Next time: We look for things lost, and then do some good old fashioned heckling. What does that mean? Guess you'll have to tune in next time to find out!_


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